


Fox on the  Run

by Johnsoneer



Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Betrayal, F/M, Investigations, Mystery, Police, Police Procedural, Suspense, Terrorism, ZBI
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-26
Updated: 2017-08-27
Packaged: 2018-09-27 02:01:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 21
Words: 111,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9945410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Johnsoneer/pseuds/Johnsoneer
Summary: Nick has vanished, and for some reason the ZBI are after him. One thing that is clear is that Nick has been keeping many secrets from his partner. Judy has a choice: to help him or help bring him in. Either way, she needs to catch him first.





	1. And He Was Gone

Judy quietly scrolled through the article on the tablet in her lap as she sat upright in bed. She scratched her chin lightly as she continued to look over the horrifying photos from the attack on the other side of the world. The images on screen were terrible enough, but she knew only the tamest could be published in the news. There were likely real horrors from the tragedy she would never see. As she read she huffed a heavy sigh, one that was loud enough for her roommate to hear.

"I know you're still awake, Carrots. I can hear you caring," Nick called out from the kitchen. She rolled her eyes and peered up from her tablet to see the fox make his way into the bedroom, tossing an apple between his paws.

"Things aren't looking any better in Griño," she said sadly, turning her tablet towards Nick who leaned over the bed frame to take a closer look. He frowned and shook his head.

"That country has been on fire for a thousand years," he commented. "Not much we can do about it here."

"I know," Judy said with a frown and sat back against the pillows. "It makes me thankful that the worst we see here is the occasional drug dealer or disgruntled employee."

"Well, there was this one time the city was run by a crazy sheep with a hatred for predators. Pretty sure we fixed that one though," Nick said before taking a bite out of his apple. Dawn Bellweather's plot to turn the entire city against predators was not a particularly happy memory for her, but that case did launch her career and introduce her to Nick, so not all of it had been bad. Judy tossed the tablet onto her bedside table and took in a deep breath. She looked up at him and smiled as he observed her lying in bed.

"Apples for dessert now?" she asked.

"What? A guy can't eat a little healthy? I gotta watch my figure if I'm gonna compete with you," he said, giving her a wink.

"What do you mean compete?" she asked. The sly smile on his face made her immediately regret asking.

"If I'm gonna take a bunny like you to bed, I should at least look like I deserve it," he said as he began sliding himself onto the bed towards her in a playful prowl. "I can't have my partner be foxier than me."

She laughed and lifted her long foot to rest on his shoulder, halting his advance. The sultry look on his face would look silly on any other mammal, but that arrogant grin often succeeded at riling her up. She gave him a confident glare before folding her arms across her chest.

"You and I both know we need some sleep tonight, and if I let you get any closer we'll no doubt fall asleep during patrol tomorrow. Chief would never let us take a weekend off again after that. Besides, I believe the words out of your mouth a few hours ago were 'please no more'."

"Doesn't mean I still can't push your buttons if I so choose," he replied back coyly, turning his head to give her leg a quick kiss. He brushed his nose along her fur while keeping his eyes on her. Judy bit her lip from the way his breath tickled her skin before giving him a little shove and rolling him over to his side of the bed. He finished his apple with a few more chomps before tossing the core into the bin by the door.

"Get your tail up here, I'm freezing. I still don't know why must we keep it so cold in here at night," she grumbled as she lifted the blankets up and scooted herself into the crisp freshly washed sheets.

"Two reasons," he answered while reaching over her head to turn her nightstand light off before joining her under the covers. "First is that my fur is much thicker than yours, so if we don't have it cold I'll turn into a ball of fire every night."

"And the second?" She snuggled in closer to him, resting her head on his shoulder as he laid onto his back. Her feet dug underneath his tail, causing a wonderful feeling of warmth and pressure to radiate onto her bitter toes. He brought his forearm up around her shoulder and draped it over the length of her side.

"It means I don't need to make an excuse to get this close to you," he said huskily, giving her a little squeeze. She smiled and dug her nose into the fur on his side, right on the border where brilliant red turned into a lighter cream color.

A few minutes passed between them in tranquil silence. Judy kept her eyes closed and enjoyed the sensation of Nick absentmindedly running his fingertips in circles along her back. She was thankful that she was with someone she felt comfortable enough with to share quiet moments like this without any awkwardness. Her previous relationships always had this underlying need to fill the empty space with conversation, which sometimes degenerated into arguments. But things just sort of felt natural with Nick. She smiled as he began softly humming a tune to himself, ironically shattering her pleasant moment of quiet.

"What's that?" she asked without opening her eyes.

"What's what?"

"That song you're humming," she mumbled.

"Sweet? You've never heard of Sweet? Your music taste needs to catch up, Carrots. Seriously, it's like you were born a decade after I was," he murmured.

"I was, you dumb fox," she retorted with a groan, letting her exhaustion finally show through in her voice.

"Right, I forgot I'm a cradle robber," he joked. She was much too tired to try and tell him how much she disliked that phrase. A few more quiet moments and she would be out cold. Just then, another thought crossed her mind.

"Hey Nick?"

"Mm?"

"Next time we have a weekend free like this, do you think it's a good idea for me to meet your mother?" she asked softly.

"Of course," he replied easily.

"Really? You're not afraid for me the way I was for you when you met my parents?" she asked. He shook his head lightly and smiled.

"I was nervous because I wasn't sure if I could pull it off without screwing something up. I figured I was bound to say or do something to ruin it, despite your parents being so delightful. But you'll do just fine, I'm sure of it," he said assuredly, giving her side another light squeeze.

"How do you know?" she murmured.

"Fluff, you can take down mammals five times your size, you can spot an expert pickpocket from a mile away in a dense crowd, and you can strike fear into the hearts of mammals with nothing but a glare. I think you can handle one old fox who lives on Beaker Street," he said with a light chuckle.

"Thanks Nick," she said, letting her mind wander again as she began to drift off. A moment went by before Nick turned and switched his bedside lamp off as well. He rolled back over to his side, cradling her into his torso. Leaning down, he planted the end of his muzzle onto the top of her head, taking slow breaths and nuzzling her gently.

"Judy?" he whispered.

"Hmm?" she moaned quietly, teetering on the edge of consciousness.

"I have every ounce of faith in you," he breathed.

"Mmm," she cooed happily. "I have all the faith in the world in you too."

"Yeah?" he whispered again, rubbing her back lightly with the pads of his paws.

"Mmhmm," she reassured him, breathing in the musky aroma of his scent as she started to doze off again. She felt him plant a long and gentle kiss on her head, letting the end of his nose linger there for a moment before finally feeling the soft tug of sleep overtake her.

 

* * *

 

Judy needed a new alarm clock badly. She still had the same one she brought with her when she moved to Zootopia years ago, and the obnoxious clamor that came from the orange device every morning was starting to get on her nerves. She groggily rolled over and smacked the button with a thump, groaning as she lifted herself from her pillow.

"Come on honey, let's get moving," she beckoned as she rolled over again. Her paw reached out and found only his pillow beside her.

"Nick?" she said while looking around with her eyes still mostly closed. His side of the bed was empty, sure enough, but she immediately noticed how his sunglasses were not on his nightstand either.

"Nick?" Judy called out louder, hoping he was in the kitchen or perhaps the bathroom. She got up out of bed and searched their apartment.

Moving in together certainly meant more space than she had in her older place. Living with a fox meant some things were just a little bit bigger as well. The fridge, for example, had to hold both her veggies and his selection of fish and synthetic meats. The stools at the counter adjusted height so they could be at eye level when they ate, and the bed was longer than anything she ever slept in before. One cop's salary wouldn't go very far in this part of the city, but two cop's salaries together could get something decent, especially if the landlord liked police. Despite her wandering to each corner of the apartment, she could not find the fox.

Perplexed, she found her phone plugged in on the edge of the kitchen counter and opened it up. She saw her background picture of a selfie he had snuck one day while out on patrol, but no texts or missed calls.

"Hmm," she pondered. There were times when he went for an early morning run before roll call, which she often joined him for, but he always mentioned it the night before. He could have forgotten, but then again, his sunglasses were gone as well as his phone and keys. She simply figured he ventured in early to get them breakfast, so she huffed and began sending him a quick text message.

_*Not like you to nail and bail, Slick. I better see you at roll call*_

Judy hit send and quickly began cleaning herself up and putting her blues on. It felt odd going through her morning routine alone. She was so accustomed to having Nick there, giving her snide comments to help get her mind sharp every morning. When they first moved in, that took some getting use to. But now, not having him there felt a little like going out without her phone or keys in her pocket. The world just felt a little bit off. She pinned her badge to her Kevlar vest and gave it a proud polish with her sleeve before setting off for the precinct.

When she got there, she noticed something odd. There were multiple black SUVs parked near the front where patrol cruisers were meant to be, each with thick tinted windows. The odd sight lit a small concern far in the depths of her mind, as she still had not heard from Nick. Judy furrowed her brow and made her way inside to ask Clawhauser who was visiting. She got her answer right away.

A small group of mammals, all dressed in sharp black suits, huddled in an urgent conversation beside Clawhauser's desk. One of them, a badger, was angrily speaking with the poor cheetah while Clawhauser looked back at him nervously. The other two spoke with Chief Bogo in a similarly heated discussion. Groups of officers were looking at the scene from a respectable distance, quietly whispering to each other. Judy eventually made eye contact with Clawhauser, his eyes widening upon seeing her.

"Chief?" he called out and pointed to where she was standing. Chief Bogo turned from his conversation and glared at her. He raised a paw and ushered her to come closer.

"A word, Officer Hopps," he ordered. All three mammals in suits immediately looked her way, making the hair on the back of her neck stand up on end. She tentatively made her way closer to the chief, trying her best to look confident in the face of leering eyes. Even the other officers observed her expectantly, wondering how the scene would play out. She approached Chief Bogo and folded her paws behind her back, standing at attention.

"Sir?" she asked confidently. Then Cheif Bogo did something she had never seen him do before. He got down on one knee and lowered his head so that he was no longer towering over her. The look on his face could almost be pity, though she must have misread him because Bogo never looked sorry for anyone. The unusual sight did little to calm her growing nerves.

"Hopps, these mammals are from the Zootopia Bureau of Investigations. This is Agent Maple, Agent Juarez, and Agent Brocktree," he said and gestured to the mammals dressed in suits. The moose, Agent Maple, held a stern look on his face as he peered down at her. His magnificent antlers were the size of her parent's back porch. The badger named Brocktree was observing every inch of Judy, her eyes darting up and down. The Jackal, Agent Juarez, instead looked around the lobby keeping his eyes on a swivel. The entire display felt like a coordinated procedure, like they were computers gathering data on every detail in the room.

"Is there something wrong?" she asked tentatively, looking back at the chief.

"They'd like to ask you a few questions," he continued.

"What about?" she said and shot the Agents a glance again. At this point she had to keep her foot from nervously tapping.

"About your partner," Agent Maple said.

"Nick? Has something happened?" she asked the chief. His look of worry deepened the swelling fear building in her gut.

"Have you seen him at all today, Hopps?" the chief asked.

"No. He was gone when I woke up this morning," she said. Judy caught the agents shooting furtive glances at each other. Her ears were at full attention and her shoulders tensed as she stepped closer to the chief. "Please Chief, tell me what is going on."

"Stay calm, Hopps," he began, which ended up being counterproductive.

"Has something happened to Nick?" she asked a little louder. Her tone was approaching demanding at this point.

"Excuse me, Chief Bogo. Perhaps I can fill her in? She is obviously unaware of the situation," she heard from her side. Judy turned to find another mammal dressed in a sharp black suit. This one was a rabbit, about the same height as her, with bright silver fur and black stripes on either side of his face. He had an earpiece spiraling down from one ear into the collar of his suit. His bright blue eyes were thus far the only ones that offered any respect, though still not much kindness.

"Officer Hopps, Agent Jack Savage, ZBI," he said in an even voice, stretching out an open paw. Judy tentatively shook it and returned his stern expression.

"Would you mind telling me, Mr. Savage, what is happening and why the ZBI is asking about my partner?" she asked bluntly.

"I'd be happy to, Officer. But first, I need you to answer a very important question for me," Agent Savage said. This time, the other agents backed off a bit and waited for him to guide the conversation. As much as the growing urgency built up in her gut, she knew that if she continued to demand answers, they were less likely to tell her anything.

"Alright," Judy ventured. Jack looked her up and down very quickly before folding his hands into his pockets.

"When was the last contact you had with your partner, Nicholas Wilde?" he asked.

"Last night, going to bed," she answered honestly. "Did something happen to him?"

"One more question, Officer," the bunny began again.

"Did something happen to my partner?" she asked angrily, her patience beginning to run thin. "I already answered your question."

"I know, I know. Please bare with me, I promise to fill you in," he calmly stated with a paw raised in his defense. He fished out a small photograph from his pocket and held it up to her face. "Just answer me this: Do you know who this is?"

Judy scowled at her interrogator for a moment before looking at the photo. It was a mountain lion with bright yellow eyes peering over his shoulder in a crowded street. She studied his face closely, noting his sharp features and smooth beige fur. She shook her head, and Agent Savage sighed before placing the photograph back into his pocket. He motioned with his paw for the others to back off. They did so, leaving the two officers and Agent Savage alone.

"That," Jack started, "is Victor Pumar, last seen in Griño in October. He's an international arms smuggler who has a history of selling weapons to unstable dictatorships and terrorist organizations. He earned a spot on our most-wanted list a few years back and has been steadily climbing that list ever since. Though, since he stays out of the country, he is difficult to track."

"What does this have to do with Nick?" Judy exclaimed, yet again letting her anger show due to his infuriatingly calm demeanor. Agent Savage simply reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out another photograph, this one wider and clearer. He handed it to Judy, who observed it closely.

"This was captured by traffic cams this morning at 5:22 in the Rainforest District," he explained.

Judy saw the same mountain lion that was in the previous picture. The fur on his face was a little longer, but it was certainly him. He was looking out from the open door of a white van on the side of the road. A few other mammals were on either side of him. One was an ocelot peering out at their surroundings nervously. The other was a red fox wearing aviator sunglasses on his forehead.

Judy gasped and placed a paw over her mouth as she examined then re-examined the impossible image in her paw. Her face twisted in confusion as she looked at the mammal who was sliding the van door closed. His shirt was unbuttoned, and his fur was matted in the rain, but there was no mistaking Nick Wilde when she saw him. There was also no doubt that he was not there against his will, either. It looked almost like a drawing to her, or a cartoon, only because it was so amazingly unreal. She looked back up to the ZBI agent with wide wavering eyes.

"I'm afraid your partner has gone rogue."

 


	2. The Ultimate Con

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Judy sat quietly in the cold steel chair in the interrogation room running her thumb over the picture of Nick with the wanted criminal. It still felt unreal somehow, as if she were watching a film or a performance contained into one picture. Nick’s shirt was unbuttoned, revealing a graphic t-shirt he wore underneath with a faded but colorful logo on it. He was looking up towards the canopy with his paw on the sliding door, as if concerned about being spotted. Judy’s other arm remained strapped to a machine showing variations in her heart rate and blood pressure as one of the ZBI agents threw more questions at her.

“Have you any knowledge about Officer Wilde’s connection with Victor Pumar?” the moose asked.

“I told you already that I had no idea who that mammal was until a few minutes ago,” she said bitterly.

“Please, yes or no answers only,” he reminded her.

“No,” she said sternly. The moose looked over the readout on the machine before continuing.

“Is it true that you are romantically involved with Officer Wilde?” he asked.

“Yes,” she answered. Their relationship was no secret amongst the officers of the precinct, nor did she see any reason to keep it from the investigation. Though his asking left a bad taste in her mouth.

“Last question: did you have any reason to believe Nicholas Wilde would disappear today?”

“No,” she answered sternly, tearing her gaze away from the photograph and looking up at Jack Savage, who was leaning up against the wall keeping his eyes on her the whole time. The moose flipped through the readings for each of his questions, turning page after page before looking up towards Savage and nodding.

“A-plus, as far as I’m concerned,” the moose said.

“Thank you Agent Maple. Give us a minute,” he said and the Moose nodded before leaving the room. Judy removed the lie detector from her arm and looked at Agent Savage, who flipped through a beige file on the polished steel table. He looked over the pages and shot her a glance every now and then.

“Officer Nicholas P. Wilde,” he read out loud. “First joined the force about a year after yourself. Graduated towards the top of his class, an expert on coercion and highly connected within the city, both above and underground. One of the best shots on the force, but I suppose that’s not surprising with the eyes of a fox. He’s kept his nose clean since joining the force, however it looks like he has a pretty shady history.”

“Nick use to hustle popsicles for a living. Hardly terrorist material,” she commented.

“Valid point,” he said with a nod. “I, however, find it difficult to believe that his partner and lover had no idea about his connections with Pumar.”

“A lie-detector not good enough for you?” she asked sternly. She smirked to herself, noting that it was something Nick would say.

“No no, I believe you’re an honest cop, Hopps. I suppose I am sorry things turned out this way.”

“You promised you’d fill me in, Agent Savage. Why is my partner with an international criminal?” she asked and sat towards the edge of her seat. Savage sighed and crossed a leg over his knee.

“Honestly, I was hoping you could tell me. But you’re right, I did promise. So here’s what you need to know,” he started. “What we know so far is that Pumar is connected with a terrorist organization called the ‘Dravec’, which means ‘predator’. They are very well funded and have a fanatic agenda that wishes to place predators as the ruling class over all mammal kind, thus they have a distaste for developed nations and places like Zootopia.”

“I’ve heard of them,” she interrupted. She was in fact reading about the very same organization the night before. “Their most recent attack was in Griño.”

“Correct. Last week, they caused the deaths of 37 prey and 4 predators with a new weapon we haven’t seen before,” he explained.

“I thought it was a bomb?” she asked.

“It was, but instead of spreading shrapnel or fire, the explosion spread a gas,” he continued sternly. “The news organizations do not have this information yet, but the gas used in the explosion was a variation of the same poison used by Mayor Bellweather in your first case.”

“A Nighthowler _bomb_?” she asked, rising to her feet. The very concept of causing instantaneous panic and carnage with Nighthowler poison made her fur stand on edge. The flower itself was relatively harmless, but when concentrated and weaponized, a small dose could turn any mammal savage in seconds. A mammal could attack his best friend and have no control to stop himself.

“Midnicampum Holicithias,” agent Savage annunciated slowly. “The explosion affected every mammal within a 30 meter radius. The resulting carnage took hours to get under control.”

“But if that’s the case, then it would have turned the nearby prey savage as well,” she said, remembering how she discovered how her uncle went savage after eating the flower whole when her mother was young.

“True, but if two savage mammals were to fight to the death, who would emerge? The predator or the prey?” Judy’s eyes widened as she realized that predator’s natural ability would undoubtedly win in most circumstances, say for perhaps a weasel who picked a fight with an elephant. If they wanted to assert dominance by fear, then savage predators would do just that.

“The predators who died were savages that happen to pick a fight with a bigger predator,” he noted calmly. Something about his nonchalant attitude bothered her immensely.

“How could this happen?” she muttered to herself.

“We’ve spent the past few days trying to figure that out, Officer Hopps,” Savage reassured her. “We know that Pumar sold them the weapon, but we don’t know where he got it from. All of Dawn Bellweather’s accomplices were arrested along with her, and you personally saw to the destruction of their lab, so we do not believe they are involved.”

“But someone else figured out how to weaponize the flowers,” she concluded.

“Exactly. Pumar found himself a supplier, and now that he’s in Zootopia we have to assume his buyers have the city as their next target. It’s possible that Griño was just a test, and now that they know the product works, they’ll want to use it.”

Judy sat back down as she began to digest what agent Savage was telling her. Terrorist bombings were always a threat, but they always seemed to be removed from her reality in an odd way. It was normally the kind of thing she’d see on TV, or read about from a foreign newspaper. The threat of that kind of carnage happening down the street did not pop into her brain until it was imminent.

“What does this have to do with Nick? He was a hustler, but never a real criminal. This guy Pumar and his buyers, they’re monsters and Nick is nothing like them.” Agent Savage scowled and folded his arms across his torso.

“In order to avoid capture in Griño, Pumar somehow got access to the city’s traffic cameras. Every time the police tried to grab him, he saw them coming. He knew exactly where and when to place the bomb so that there was minimal security to handle the savage mammals,” he explained.

“Yes, but Zootopia’s network is impossible to hack into. The only way to get access to it is with credentials and a drive-key,” Judy explained. She was no expert on cyber-security, but she knew there was no way any criminal could gain remote access to the system. The background checks and approval process could take months. She remembered how long it took for her to receive credentials for access to the cameras at the office. Her parents were questioned, her landlady was questioned, and any access to the system was monitored. The drive-key, which was a small USB flash drive, took even longer to get. During her first case in Zootopia, she actually used the assistant-mayor’s credentials and key to access the cameras to track a savage jaguar.

“A drive-key like the one your partner took from his desk last Friday?” the bunny asked with a raised eyebrow.

“What?” she said. She froze, unable to process what the agent was telling her. The confused feeling was starting to feel sickly familiar that day.

“Security cameras in the building confirmed he slipped the drive-key into his pocket before leaving work for the weekend,” Savage continued.

“No,” she denied. “He was with me all weekend.”

“He was with you for _years_ , officer, and no one was the wiser,” he said coldly. Judy looked up at him with a rising sense of unease. “Think about it: a fox who’s petty scams have only gotten him enough to live under a bridge for most of his life finds an extremely well funded dealer who needs a dirty cop on his side. Then a promising young bunny on the force vouches for him and his application gets fast-tracked with almost no background checks.”

Panic began to well up again in her stomach again as he spoke. Her eyes darted around, not looking at anything in particular yet furiously focused. She thought back to meeting him and how bitter he was towards cops. She spent a good amount of time away from him between the press conference and the day they solved the missing mammal case together. That could have been when he connected with Pumar. She felt woozy.

“Then he joins the force, biding his time and learning more and more about the inside of the ZPD. Somehow, he earned the trust of Victor Pumar and played the rest of the world for fools. When the supplier perfected his weapon, and the buyer is ready to go, then it’s time to deliver. I bet he’ll make enough money to skip town for good after the attack,” Savage wondered aloud. His words were hurting her physically. She could feel each one like a bullet rip through her center with a haunting sense of disorientation.

“That’s not . . .” she began. Savage did not let her have a moment’s peace. He got louder and stood to drive his point home.

“Now Pumar has an expert con-artist with access to the cities traffic cameras and a lifetime of street-smarts in this very city. He’ll know exactly how to avoid the police and who to turn to for help. All he had to do was play nice for a few years and become filthy rich when the time came. It’s actually kind of amazing. It’s the ultimate con,” Agent Savage finished and buttoned his jacket.

Judy placed a paw on the arm of her chair to keep herself from falling. Her insides felt like they were on fire, and her breathing was short and sporadic. She shook her head softly, as if to shuffle the thoughts from her head, but they remained. Despite wanting everything to be a lie, everything she heard from Savage was indeed possible. It all felt unreal, yet it made sense, and it made her sick.

“I’m sorry, officer,” he said with a frown as he approached her. “Given the evidence, we need to assume he is in league with Pumar.”

“This isn’t right,” she nearly whispered.

“Officer, I know this is difficult for you, but we need your help. We need to track them down before Pumar is able to deliver the devices to his buyers. No one knows Nick Wilde like you do. Can you help us find him?” he offered softly. Judy looked up at him with a furrowed brow.

“I need you to guarantee Nick’s safety,” she demanded. “Tasers or darts, but no firearms.”

“Absolutely not,” he replied. “Pumar has killed mammals in the past, so we have to assume he’s armed and extremely dangerous. If he is, we need to be ready.”

“I know how this works,” she said and leered at him. “A hunt for a kidnapper or a thief usually ends in an arrest. But when terrorists are involved, you go in shooting.”

“That’s because terrorists are known to shoot back,” he said harshly. Judy’s eyes widened.

“You have no intention of giving Nick special treatment,” she realized.

“The innocent mammals of this city have to come first, officer. I won’t risk a single one of their lives or the lives of my agents on behalf of a crooked cop.”

“You might as well condemn him to death right now!” she shouted. “You can find him and stop the bombs from going off without killing him.”

“The predicament that Nick is in is entirely his own doing. If he turns himself in, he will be treated like any other criminal. But if he refuses, then we have no choice but to operate like we always do.” Agent Savage’s voice was still infuriatingly calm throughout the exchange. Judy’s voice was about to crack.

“You mean guns a-blazing?!” she spat.

“Calm down, Officer Hopps.”

“You don’t care at all! You’ve already made your mind up on killing him. If you want my help hunting Nick down, we go in with non-lethals or you get nothing,” she finished and slammed her paw down on the table. Finally, Agent Savage frowned and furrowed his brow. His annoyance was not reassuring, but it was better than his previous indifference.

“Fine,” he scoffed. “Officer Hopps, given your history with officer Wilde, you will not be involved in the investigation. You’ll be on standard patrols only. If you so much as think about interfering with our investigation, you’ll be placed on suspension until the investigation is over,” he added. She curled her paws up into fists and dropped her ears over her back.

“Only the chief can make direct orders to officers like that,” she defended herself.

“I know. Keeping you out was the chief’s idea. Don’t believe me? Go ask him,” he spat and opened the door to leave. Judy’s shoulders slumped as she watched him. Her anger did not leave her face, her rage boiling so hot she fought back a tear teasing one eye.

“You pompous . . .” she growled.

“Get over it, Hopps,” he growled back. The two bunnies stared at each other angrily for a moment before he muttered one more closing remark.

“You’re not the only one who got hustled.” With that, he turned on his heel and walked towards the lobby where the other agents were waiting for him.

She was left alone in the interrogation room where she felt like throwing something against the wall. Her foot angrily thumped against the floor on it’s own accord. Soon, however, her anger quickly began to transform. It happened slowly at first and then all at once. She wiped a tear away from her cheek and placed her paws onto the table supporting her weight. She shook her head, denying the conversation ever took place, denying the evidence, and denying that Nick was anything but innocent.

What made her the most infuriated was that he was right. The evidence did stack up against Nick, and they could not afford to jeopardize the lives of hundreds of citizens for the sake of one officer. Nick’s double-life, the plan to hoodwink the ZPD, all of it was plausible and it made her heart wretch. She brought herself back to the previous night, feeling warm and safe in his arms. The memory began to sting, and she wiped another tear from her face.

Her phone buzzed. She looked down at it and saw her alarm warning her that roll-call was in two minutes. She sighed and steeled herself to make her way to the bullpin. As much as she wanted to stay and let the conversation fester, she knew chief Bogo would have something to say about the investigation, and she needed to be there for it.

She made her way to the bullpin, which for the first time ever was standing room only. The room was packed with officers, many of whom were not even on duty. Even Clawhauser was there. She wandered forward towards her usual spot, which somehow remained unoccupied. Perhaps no one wanted to tread on what was suddenly sacred ground. Or perhaps they all wanted to see if she would be there. She made her way up to her seat and laid her arms onto the table. She still had the photo in her paw, looking at it closely.

When Bogo walked in, instead of the usual hoots and hollers, there was a cold silence. He made his way to the podium and looked not the least bit surprised at the number of officers in the room. He sighed and donned his reading glasses.

“I’m sure all of you are aware that we have some guests with us in the precinct today,” he began. “I am also sure you have heard certain rumors revolving around Officer Wilde. At this point, all you need to know is that the extent of Wilde’s involvement in this case is not yet confirmed. But while we hope for the best, we need to prepare for the worst. If anyone has any knowledge of the whereabouts of Officer Wilde, you are to report it immediately to myself and the ZBI. If you spot him, bring him in for immediate questioning.” Whispers and murmurs started to circulate around the room as Bogo paused. He raised a paw to silence his officers and continued.

“He was last seen this morning in the Rainforest District with a mammal who is on the ZBI’s most wanted list for international arms dealing,” he said and gestured to the photo on the wall behind him. It was Pumar’s face from the photo in her paw blown up and focused on him. “Victor Pumar is considered armed and dangerous so I want all eyes and ears out for either of them. If you discover anything, you will call it in and hold for backup.”

“Is the public aware?” someone called out.

“No, and for now we need to keep it that way. If we need to go public with this, we will, but for now I want all eyes out there for signs of trouble and under no circumstances will anyone talk to the press. Am I clear?” he asked.

“Sir!” the officers replied. The room rang out with all of their voices, except for Judy’s. She was hardly even listening to what Bogo was saying. Instead she focused on the photograph in her paw. Something about it felt odd, and not only because her partner was standing next to a wanted criminal. There was something about Nick that was bothering her.

_In all the time I’ve known him_ , she thought, _he’s never once worn his shirt unbuttoned_.

She took a closer look at the t-shirt he wore underneath it, and realized she had never seen it before. She had done the lazy fox’s laundry for nearly a year and never once did she see a shirt with that colorful logo. She furrowed her brow as she looked at the surroundings of the van as well. The platform behind him was the same one where they narrowly escaped a savage Mr. Manchas years earlier. Her eyes focused harder as the photo looked more and more odd to her with every passing second.

She did not excuse herself. Instead, she simply came down from her chair and made her way out of the room with her eyes focused on the photograph. Some officers gave her sorrowful looks, assuming she was unable to handle the situation. Bogo did nothing to stop her either. She made her way up the stairs and down the hallway to her desk and logged into her computer.

“He knew there would be cameras there,” she wondered aloud. That was the very same camera they used to find the pair of timberwolves that took Mr. Manchas during the missing mammals case. The door to the van was open wide to the camera and if he was trying to avoid cameras he would have either picked a different spot, or at least opened the door on the other side to avoid showing their faces. Nick was smart enough to know better.

She reached into her desk drawer and pulled out a magnifying glass, too impatient to scan the photo. She looked at the logo on Nick’s shirt closer and through the relatively blurry image she could make out one word.

“Sweet,” she whispered. She remembered their conversation the previous night as she was drifting off to sleep. He was humming some song to himself and mentioned something about her music taste. She quickly brought up her browser and typed the name ‘Sweet’ into Zoogle and began running through the links.

“Definition of ‘sweet’ . . . cupcake company . . . tech startup . . . Glam rock band Sweet,” she mumbled aloud and clicked on the link. The Kiwipedia page for the band showed a list of top songs.

• Ballroom Blitz  
• Love is Oxygen  
• Fox on the Run

The last link made her eyebrows jump, and she immediately clicked on the Ewetube link and began listening to the song. She heard a loud synthesizer squeal followed by a rock and roll groove that sounded like it was well before her time, perhaps even before Nick’s time as well. The singer of the band began shouting the verse and awkwardly dancing and pointing to a non-existent crowd. She studied the video and listened closely for anything at all that might give her something to go on. The chorus dropped in, and her heart began to flutter.

_Fox on the Run,_  
_You scream and_  
_everybody comes a-running_  
_Take a run and hide_  
_Yourself away_  
_Foxy on the Run!_

There was no mistaking it. The song was the exact same one he hummed to himself the previous night as she fell asleep. She looked back at the photograph in her paw and observed her partner closely. She saw the hopeful look on his face she mistook for concern before. He was _hoping_ the cameras would catch him. As the song played, she regarded the image of her partner fondly. It was as if he was talking to her though the camera. He was not crying for help, nor was he being serious at all. It was like he was playing a game, as if he was telling her ‘come and get me.’

“That fox.” She smiled, even choking back a laugh, and regarded her partner lovingly. She did not know where he was. She was not sure why he was doing what he was doing. She had no clue what the endgame was, or why he hid everything from her. But she would find that out for herself soon enough. In that moment, she felt nothing but pride and relief wash over her, content with knowing just one thing: Nick was her fox, and she would never doubt that again.

She hopped out of her seat and began running towards the main entrance. She would have to be careful of the Chief, but technically he did not give her a direct order to stay out of it yet, and Jack Savage could go play in traffic for all she cared. She was going to find Nick first if it was the last thing she did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBdFA6sI6-8


	3. The Crafty Devil

 

Apparently roll call did not last much longer after she left the bullpen. Judy didn't make it past four strides into the lobby before hearing a familiar concerned voice call for her.

"Judy!" she heard Clawhauser say from behind her.

"Gotta go, Benny. Sorry," she said without turning. Judy was eager to start hunting down Nick and was not in the mood for any condolences from her coworkers. A moment later she felt Clawhauser's paw on her shoulder stop her abruptly. She turned around to find the chubby predator somehow right beside her.

"Woah," she breathed.

"Cheetah," he said, gesturing to himself. He leaned over and put his paws on his knees, speaking softly to her. "Listen Judy, I know what you're going to do and I want to talk to you." Judy frowned.

"You can't stop me Clawhauser," she said softly.

"I know. Please, just . . . here. Let me walk you to your cruiser," he said a bit apprehensively. He looked at her with a hopeful smile as they began to slowly make their way to the parking lot to where Judy's cruiser waited for her. Judy followed along, content with knowing that at the very least he was not going to try to stop her.

"Chief's assigned you Sahara Square today," he mentioned. "Standard patrols, and he said something about taking it easy until he can pair you up with a new partner."

"Of course," she nodded along. Something about Clawhauser's awkward body language was striking her as odd. He was normally so approachable, but at that moment he looked nervous. Given the circumstances, she supposed it was not too peculiar. The city was under serious threat from a terrorist attack with an international arms dealer on the loose. It certainly was not the typical 'bad case of the Mondays'.

"Have a good day, Hopps," he said as he opened the door to the cruiser for her. She shot him a skeptical glance before hopping up into her seat. Instead of closing the door, he leaned in and looked at her very seriously. She was now at eye level with him, which would have felt odd enough on its own. His stern expression really brought her ears upright.

"We're getting lunch today at Flake's," Clawhauser said coldly. Judy groaned, assuming he was putting on a show of seriousness as a joke.

"I don't want donuts for lunch, Benny," she began. His expression did not change at all.

"We're _getting_ lunch at Flake's, Judy. Twelve-thirty," he said. This time, her ears stayed up as she slowly nodded, a little too surprised by his demeanor to ask what was going on.

"Great!" he said with his chipper smile back on his face. "See you then."

With that, he turned on his heel and closed the door to her cruiser, leaving her with a bewildered look on her face. He hummed a tune to himself as he made his way back inside. Judy watched in disbelief, thinking about what on earth he could be up to. If he was going to try to stop her for searching for Nick, he would have done so before she could head off in the cruiser. Did he know something about Nick that she did not? It was unlikely, not only because Nick never trusted Clawhauser to keep a secret, but also because Flake's Donuts and Bagels hardly offered much privacy during the lunch rush.

She shook her head, knowing that whatever he was up to would not keep her from finding Nick. She fired up her cruiser and rolled out of the lot, thankful that the Chief assigned her to Sahara Square that day. That gave her the perfect opportunity to look for her first lead, and she needed as much time as she could get to find that grumpy old hustler.

* * *

The cruiser she and Nick used was a modified version of the smaller patrol cars. On the outside, it was just as big, but the seats on the inside were customized to accommodate their smaller bodies. As a result, Judy always felt tall driving around in her cruiser. It came in handy when she needed to see over the heads of other mammals. In that moment, she was using the vantage point to search for Finnick's van. His usual spots behind the mall or at gas-station parking lots were no good, and the day was beginning to drift by without much luck.

Finally, after she was beginning to think he was in a different district, Judy spotted the backside of his van down an alley as she drove by. She continued on a few more blocks as per usual. Finnick did not want others thinking he was cozy with the cops. Not that you could ever use the word cozy to describe Finnick.

The heat of Sahara Square radiated off of her Kevlar vest in the harsh sun. When she turned down the alley, she found her least-favorite fennec fox relaxing in a lawn chair under an umbrella next to his trusty van. Technically he was the only fennec fox she knew, but his attitude could really grind her gears.

As she approached, Judy saw him slowly dip his sunglasses down and peer at her with a satisfied smirk. He slowly reached over to the rear of his van and picked up a beer out of a small cooler. He pried off the cap with his teeth and spat it on the concrete before taking a long sip.

"I need your help, Finn," she said, getting straight to the point. He did not answer. Instead, he continued to gulp down his beer holding up a finger in her direction, as if she was interrupting a very important meeting between his mouth and the booze.

"Ahhh," he finally said after he put down the bottle and gave her another once-over. "Well if it isn't little miss bunny-butt," he said in his disturbingly deep voice.

"Have you seen Nick at all today?" she asked him.

"No," Finnick said sternly. He turned and took another swig from his beer as she crossed her arms. Judy looked him over again, taking note of the few empty bottles behind him. Normally he would be on the prowl looking for his next sucker, but by the looks of it, he had been there all morning.

"No hustles today?" she asked.

"Taking a vacation ain't illegal," he answered simply.

"We both know you're not the type. Know where Nick is?" she prodded.

"No idea," he answered immediately. His tone was not his usual angry scowl, which did not sit quite well with her. It was like he was enjoying being pestered.

"Level with me Finn. Do you know what's going on?"

"You're gonna have to be more specific there, Officer Toots." He crossed his legs and raised his glasses back up to his head, resuming his indifference. Judy groaned and placed her paw up to her head, massaging the crook of her brow. She decided to change the subject, hoping to ask the right question.

"Heard of anyone asking around for Nighthowlers?" she asked.

"Ain't no one tried to mess with that shit since y'all went conspiracy-theory on the mayor," he said with a scoff.

"What about explosives?" she followed. That question made him crack the slightest smile and take another sip of his beer.

"Perhaps," he said. Judy stepped closer and got down on one knee to peer at the smaller tan fox directly in his eye.

"Finn, don't 'perhaps' me. Lives are at stake here, including Nick's," she said sternly. Finn finally removed his glasses and eyed her suspiciously before placing his finished beer behind him among the other empty bottles.

"It's the honest answer, bunny. No one's dumb enough to start asking around for some extra C4. But a few weeks back, I heard someone was looking for pool-cleaning chemicals."

"You mean like chlorine?" she asked. Finnick nodded.

"Yeah. Pretty odd that someone was looking to buy the stuff in bulk underground. If you want some nip, then there are a few dealers you can go to but you gotta stay off the grid. If all you want is to keep your pool clean, then just go to Harry's Hardware down the block like a normal mammal, idiot," he said, holding his paws up to accent his disapproval. "I figured it was just some mob-boss who just got a new pool in his safe house but didn't want the cops knowing the address. Right up until I remembered that you can make bombs out of mixing the right stuff together."

"Chlorine bombs aren't powerful enough for what they have in mind," Judy said.

"No idea what you mean, but that ain't all I heard," he replied.

"What do you mean?" she asked, inching closer. Finnick nodded his head and dropped the smirk from his face.

"Know a capybara down in the Meadows, used to do odd jobs for Mr. Big before he got busted for some grand theft auto and spent the better part of his youth in the slammer. A real piece of work, this guy. He got out last year and had a hard time finding anyone willing to hire his dumb ass. A few weeks back he was tootin' his horn about a new boss who pays big dough for simple scavenging jobs."

"Did he mention what he was scavenging for, or who the boss was?" she asked.

"Nah, and that's the weird part. This guy couldn't keep his trap shut if he had a loaded .45 up his ass. But something about this new boss of his got him to keep quiet about everythin'. Guess he got spooked or something. All he told me was how much he got paid, and there ain't no crime boss in this city that'll shell out that kinda money for a scavenger job." Finnick made a big sweeping gesture with his paw to drive the point home.

"What's his name?" Judy asked.

"Goes by 'Spitz'. Not sure bout his real name," he said. Judy quickly jotted down some notes in her pad and made sure to underline the part about him getting paid big money for a simple job. She was about to ask one more question when her ears perked up and pointed behind her. She heard the sound of two larger cars mount the curb near the entrance to the alley, followed by doors opening.

"Scat," she cursed. If that was the ZBI they would know exactly what she was up to, and there was only one way out of the alley.

"I need to hide," she told Finnick in a frantic hiss. His large ears were also upright. He gestured his head towards the van behind him, telling her to get in. Judy quickly got in the back of the van and closed one door behind her, making sure not to slam it so any agents wouldn't hear. She lay back against the door of the van and kept her ears tall.

Finn snickered and opened up yet another beer with his teeth, spitting the cap out just as he did for her. She heard the sound of multiple mammals, but it was a long awkward moment before Finnick finally spoke up.

"What?" he asked accusingly.

"Are you Finnick?" Agent Savage asked. Judy scowled as she recognized his voice, keeping her breath as quiet as possible to keep his ears from detecting her.

"Yeah? Who the hell are you?" Finnick asked angrily.

"My name is Jack Savage, I'm with the ZBI," he said, pulling out his badge and flashing it towards Finnick who did not even bother looking at it.

"First a bunny cop, then a bunny spook? Y'all bunnies are takin' over the world, aren't ya?" Finn said.

"Oh, so you're familiar with Officer Hopps?" he asked.

"Course I am! That stupid hick stole my business partner. Slack-jawed idiot took one look at those bunny hips and just couldn't get away fast enough. Good riddance," he said, taking another swig from his beer.

"She come around here today?" Savage asked him. Judy suppressed a nervous breath, not daring to make a sound.

"She drops by from time to time," Finnick answered. "Only when she thinks she can shake somethin' out of me. She ain't half the hustler Nick was."

"It's actually your former partner I'm here about. He's gone missing," Savage explained.

"Go ask bunny-cop, bunny-cop! I ain't seen him in weeks," Finnick replied angrily.

"We've traced his last contact with your phone to a few days ago," Savage said. "We need to know where he is."

Finn took a moment to size up this bunny-spook in front of him. There was a dry indifference to his expression that ticked him off. It was the same expression that Finn liked to wear, and he felt a little robbed. The bunny kept his paws in his pockets, like he was bored. Finnick was used to pissing mammals off, especially cops, but having a bunny completely unfazed by him would not stand.

"You know," he said with a groan. "Maybe I've had one or two too many of these. I can't seem to remember what he said. Y'all got somethin' on you to sober me up?" Finnick smiled as he rubbed his fingers together. One of the other agents huffed at him.

"Listen fox, you need to answer our questions or else we'll take you in on grounds of obstructing a federal investigation," Agent Maple spat. The third officer, a badger, placed his paw inside his coat near his holster to complete the intimidation tactic. The bunny, however, still did not seem the least bit bothered.

"Y'all must be new here," Finn said with a laugh. "The cops round here have an understanding with me. Y'all wanna book me? Go for it. Take me down to the station, where I'll reserve my right to remain silent till I lawyer up and _then_ tell you everythin' I got. I'll get off with some bullshit charge and I'll be home for dinner, and you will have wasted hours of time when you could have it now. And I'm willing to bet a day trip to the joint that this thing is time-sensitive, right? So what's it gonna be, bunny-boy?"

"Why you!" Agent Maple practically barked before Savage raised his paw out of his pockets and signaled his coworkers to back off. He quietly fished his wallet out of his pants and thumbed through a few bills. He tossed Finnick a sum that even he would consider to be generous before resuming his quiet skulk. Finn did not even bother grabbing the bills, content with watching the others stew in anger as the money lay at his feet.

"Hmmf," Finn scoffed before taking another sip from his beer. "All I know is that he said he'd be disappearing soon. He said something about it being a big score and that we probably wouldn't see each other again."

"He say anything else?" Savage asked.

"Yeah," Finn said with a glare. "He said I should take a vacation, get out of town for a little while."

"I see you're not taking him up on it," Savage said, gesturing to his van.

"That bastard's been telling me that since I met him," Finn spat. "Though with the feds busting my chops, maybe I should consider it."

"Last question," Agent Savage said flatly. "You know who might be able to run smuggled or stolen produce in the city? Flowers, specifically?"

"Ya mean those blue crazy-plants, right?" Finnick said before donning his sunglasses again and crossing his legs. Jack's eyebrow rose as he considered the insight from a supposed pawpsicle hustler.

"Yeah," Finnick continued. "You're lookin' for a weasel named Duke Weaselton. Slippery fella, owes me fifty bucks. He used to run petty jobs for the bigger fish. He was stealing those flowers for the psycho sheep-mayor back when preds were going nuts, though the asshat probably had no idea what he was even doing. He always gets bug-tacos from Tacomac on Mondays, during their happy-hour. If y'all don't see him there, hell is freezing over."

"Thank you for your cooperation," Savage replied dryly as he turned to leave. The other officers shot Finnick a dark glance before they followed the bunny back out of the alley and down the street. Judy waited an extra minute to make sure he was out of earshot before she peered through the window of Finnick's van. She made sure they were gone and stepped back out beside Finn, who resumed relaxing in his shade.

"You've never once asked for money from us before," she said with a smile.

"Feds think they're better than everyone else," Finnick explained. "The easiest marks to hustle are the ones who think they already know everything."

"Hustling the ZBI? That took balls. Not even Nick would try something like that," she said, shaking her head and placing her paws on her hips.

"Who do you think taught that whelp?" he said, flipping through the bills that Agent Savage had tossed him before shuffling them into his wallet.

"But lying to a federal agent might come back to bite you," she warned him.

"I didn't lie," he explained. Judy dropped her paws and looked at Finn with a dark expression.

"Nick really told you to get out of town?" she asked softly.

"Yeah," he replied quietly back. "He seemed nervous about something too."

This did not look particularly good on Nick, especially now that the ZBI knew it. Extending warnings to friends and family was a common red flag that helped identify potential domestic terrorists or suspects in murder cases. The feds would see that as evidence that he was in on the plot. Perhaps Nick was nervous that he might actually fail and that bombs might really go off. If that was the case, then she had to find him fast. With newfound determination to find him and stop the attack, Judy stepped in front of Finnick and eyed him closely.

"When did you last hear from Spitz?" she asked.

"October," he answered quickly. "Tell that spiteful sack of shit he can bite the rocket, will ya?"

"Sure," Judy groaned at his language and turned to leave. Finnick was closely watching her as she stepped away, her mind reeling with possibilities from what she learned. She remembered Victor Pumar, and how she assumed Nick was swindling him. This was likely not the kind of mammal to go trifling with easily. She looked back over her shoulder and shot the fennec fox one last question.

"Hey Finn? If I was going to hustle a terrorist and international arms dealer, how would I do it?"

Finn laughed and threw his head back against the chair. He looked back up at her, dropping his sunglasses again on his snout and seeming to give her a look of satisfaction with her attitude.

"First rule of hustling, sweetheart: know your mark," he assured her.

Judy nodded and continued her way down the alley. She made her way carefully down the street where her cruiser was waiting for her. She smiled and shook her head at the thought of Finnick's antics. The crafty devil went through two police questionings, told them both wildly different stories, and managed to do so without lying to either of them or saying anything that might incriminate himself. He even earned some cash to boot. She made a mental note to do something to thank him after everything was over. The chase for Weaselton would keep the ZBI busy for the rest of the day for sure, and that bought her some time to get closer to Nick.

She needed to take advantage of the time Finnick bought for her. Judy sat down and bumped the center console twice with her paw, thinking about how she was going to track down 'Spitz'. This capybara in the Meadows might not be much to go on, but a lead was a lead. Spitz seemed a good place as any to start.

Judy noticed the clock read quarter-past noon, so she fired up her car and made her way back towards city center where Clawhauser would likely be stuffing his face with donuts, waiting for her. It was likely he only wanted to express his concern for what was happening with Nick. She really hoped he would not take up too much of her time. She did not have much more of it.

* * *

Oddly enough, when Judy arrived at Flake's Donuts and Bagels, Clawhauser wasn't even in line for food. He simply sat at one of the booths quietly drumming his claws against the table. He noticed her approach and smiled at her.

"Hopps! Glad you could make it. You hungry?" he offered.

"No thanks, Benny. Listen, I don't know what this is about, but I don't have any time to—"

"Trust me, honey. You have time for this," he said quietly. The way his smile remained on his face aggravated her. He was still being secretive, and his antics were starting to wear thin on Judy's patience. Not a moment after she sat down across from him, a greasy-looking grizzly bear with an apron and terrible posture approached their table.

"Benjamin, my good lad, welcome back," he said, clapping Clawhauser on the shoulder.

"Good to see you too, Pops," Clawhauser said, smiling back at the bear.

"I see you brought another friend from work? Nice to meet you officer," he said turning to Judy. "Chet Flaker, but most call me 'Pops' or 'Flake'. Can I interest you in a tour of the donut factory? It's really a sight if you've never seen one before." The bear spoke in a loud, almost boisterous tone. Just before Judy could decline his offer, Clawhauser spoke up.

"We'd be glad to," he said, already getting up from his seat.

"Benny," she hissed at him. She hardly had time for Clawhauser's games, and she certainly had none for a tour of a donut shop kitchen. But Clawhauser never gave her an option. He clasped Judy's paw in his and began leading her to the back rooms behind Flake, who guided them down a narrow hallway past the restrooms. Judy was just about to voice her frustration when Clawhauser suddenly took a quick left turn through a door labeled 'Employees Only'.

She found herself in a room with a few comfortable looking chairs, boxes of bakery supplies lining the walls, and three other mammals who were looking at her intently.

Officer Wolford, a young timber wolf with white fur and a spunky attitude, sat atop one pile of boxes, wagging his tail expectantly. Wolford and Judy spent a good amount of time as temporary partners before Nick finished the academy, so his smile was familiar to her.

What was less familiar was Officer Francine Pennington's large form standing beside Wolford. The female elephant was the largest officer in Precinct 1, yet she spent most of her time inside working the computer network, which was why Judy never spent much time with her.

On the other side of the room sat Officer Fangmeyer, a female Bengal tiger who was one of the more senior officers on the force and very good friends with the chief. She had her arms crossed over her chest and observed Judy closely. Clawhauser looked at her timidly, as if he was a little nervous about the surprise he put together for her.

"What is this?" she asked, her eyes darting between her coworkers.

"Don't worry," Clawhauser started. "This place is safe. I've worked it out with Pops. No one will bother us here. We used to meet here to plan the Chief's birthday parties since he's got the whole precinct under his thumb."

"Safe from what? What is going on?" she protested.

"Well," Clawhauser said nervously, "we all got together after roll call this morning and we just knew you would be going after Nick. This is a really dangerous mess, and we're just worried about you, hun."

Judy frowned and looked up at her coworkers with her paws on her hips. Each of them were looking at her expectantly, but she did not have the time nor patience for an intervention.

"Look, I know how bad this looks for Nick, but I am not going to sit on the sidelines while the ZBI hunts and kills him. Even if you tell Bogo about it and I get suspended, I don't care! I solved my first case at the ZPD without help from any of you and I can finish this one too. So don't try and talk me out of it!" she said loudly. Fangmeyer was smiling at her, and Clawhauser had his paws up shushing her madly.

"We're not trying to stop you," he pleaded.

"What?" she asked, dropping her paws.

"We want to help," Fangmeyer said confidently.

"Yeah!" Wolford chimed in. "We all agreed that there is no way on earth Wilde just up and deserted us. The guy's a member of the family. And even if that were possible, he'd never abandon you of all mammals," he said, gesturing to Judy.

"Besides, we weren't very helpful on your first case, so we sort of owe ya," Francine said sheepishly.

"We all met up after roll call and agreed to meet up here afterward," Fangmeyer explained. "It was an easy decision. Wilde is a scoundrel and a sneak, but he is no traitor."

Judy looked around at her coworkers in awe. Each of them were wearing hopeful smiles on their faces, making her feel sour about shouting at them a moment before.

"We don't doubt for a second that you can do this alone, but you won't have to this time," Clawhauser said as he brought himself down to a knee to look at her near eye level.

Judy was at a loss. The members of the force were slow to accept her, but after years working together she felt part of a team in a way she never knew before. Now here they were, willing to risk more than just their time and effort to help her chase down her partner. Their support filled her with a swelling sense of pride and gratitude that seemed to quell the steady anxiety that festered that day. She smiled back at them and shook her head.

"I can't let you guys do that. You'd be risking your jobs, your freedom, maybe even your lives. I'm not going to let you make that kind of sacrifice," she said.

"Wilde would do the same for us," Wolford countered.

"Exactly. At the ZPD, we take care of our own," Fangmeyer commented.

"And if you even dream of stopping us, we'll tell Bogo and he'll never let you out of his sight," Francine said, folding her arms sternly.

"Hmm. You would, wouldn't you?" Judy said with a slight nod.

"We're all aware of the risks, Judy," Clawhauser began again. "But if Nick is neck-deep and needs an out, we need to be ready for him when he does. We can't let him go deep undercover without backup."

"Guys," Judy said as she choked a bit on her swelling gratitude. She was serious about doing it on her own, but she was beside herself knowing that her coworkers had her back. She gave each of them a hard look, making sure to get eye contact with them all. She wanted to know beyond any doubt that they were behind her, because there was no room for indecision here. They each nodded at her.

"Ok," she said softly. "Let's go catch a fox."


	4. Spitz

Judy sat quietly at her desk scrolling through arrest records. She peered at the screen closely, crossing off non-matches for this 'Spitz' character that Finnick mentioned. As her search turned up no leads thus far, her mind began to wander back to her conversation at Flake's. She had a team now, and that changed the nature of her investigation from the ground up.

* * *

_Back at Flake's_

Judy finished explaining everything she knew, sparing no details, even about their pillow-talk with Nick the night before. Once she finished, her coworkers looked at her hesitantly.

"I know it sounds far-fetched," Judy said. "But knowing Nick, this is exactly the kind of thing he would do."

"So let's say we catch them, then what?" Francine asked.

"Dart everyone within a ten-yard radius and bring them in for questioning?" Wolford suggested.

"We need to make contact with Nick first. If the bombs are already in the city, then arresting Pumar might just push his buyers to act faster. From there, we'll play it by ear. For now, our priority is finding them before the ZBI does," Judy suggested.

"Won't be easy," Fangmeyer chimed in. "They've got more resources, mammal power, and intel."

"True. We're going to have to capitalize on what we've got," Judy answered. "We've got all the resources we'd have on any other case, which will help. But we know Nick, and so we'll be able to guess where he's going next. As long as we keep our eyes peeled for any breadcrumbs he leaves us, we should get there first."

"So where do we start?" Fangmeyer asked with a wave of her paw. The others grew silent and turned towards Judy. Her eyes darted between them as she realized they were turning to her for a decision.

"Me?" she asked.

"It's kind of your show here, Hopps," Wolford said with a shrug. "No one knows Wilde like you do." Each of them nodded in agreement.

"Ok," Judy said with her eyebrows raised. She placed a paw to her chin and began pacing lightly between her teammates.

"If we're going to pull this off, we need to play to our strengths. Francine?" she said, pointing towards her elephant coworker. "You know how to work the ZPD system better than anyone. I'm going to need your eyes on the records and the cams, and if Nick so much as takes a selfie with his phone, we need to know where it happened. You're our intel." Francine nodded confidently along with everything Judy explained.

"You got it," Francine said.

"Ok. Fangmeyer? Wolford? The three of us are the ground crew. We'll operate in two units, one pair and one solo. One of you will need to be driving me around since neither of you will fit in my cruiser. We'll be investigating every rock, root, and hole that smells like Nick. Speaking of smells Wolford, I'll need your nose so today you're with me. Since the ban, any whiff of Nighthowler you get could be a lead so we'll keep the windows rolled down."

"Yes ma'am," he nodded.

"What about me?" Clawhauser asked.

"I need you to keep the chief off our backs. He'll want to know what I'm up to, so you'll need to give him something convincing," Judy explained.

"I think I can do that," he said timidly.

"Good, because we'll also need you to keep an eye on the ZBI. Since they're using the precinct as their HQ, we'll need to know if and when they're on the move."

"Ok," Clawhauser agreed. "How do we communicate? We can't use the scanners or else the whole precinct will know what we're doing."

"For now we'll use our phones. No one is looking for us, so that should buy us some time," Judy decided.

"You think they'll be expecting anything from us?" Clawhauser asked.

"Even if they suspected me to be up to something, I doubt they'll see an entire team coming. Just keep an extra close eye on Savage," Judy added thoughtfully.

"Savage?" Fangmeyer asked.

"Agent Jack Savage, he's leading the ZBI investigation. He strikes me as the suspicious type, and he knows Nick and I are involved, so he might try to keep an eye on me," Judy explained.

It was true that Agent Savage came across as the inquisitive type, though that probably came with the territory within the ZBI. Considering how difficult it was for her to be taken seriously as a police officer, there was no telling what he had to do to climb the ranks in the ZBI as a bunny. The way he commanded the undivided attention and respect from the other agents was not lost on her, and the fact that he was assigned a case this important meant he was the real deal. If she underestimated him, she'd likely find herself suspended.

"Keep your phones at the ready," Judy reminded everyone present. "We got lucky that today's assignments have been relatively light. We should be able to look for him without abandoning our posts. To start, we'll just take a few detours while we're on patrol. Wolford, see if you can get the chief to assign us as partners. Fangmeyer, head over to the Rainforest District where we last saw Nick and see if you find up anything. Francine, make sure her visit goes unnoticed by the ZBI. Clawhauser, keep your eyes on Savage. Everyone clear?" she finished.

* * *

It was difficult for her to sit down at her desk after that meeting. She was eager to get out investigate, but she needed info first. Luckily, there weren't many Capybaras in Zootopia so after a few more minutes of searching, she found her mark.

"Marcus Spitzer" she read aloud. The image of a scruffy-looking rodent the size of a bobcat flared on her screen above his name. His face looked none too pleased with getting his mugshot taken. Judy quickly found the last known address on file and jotted it down in her pocketbook. His release was less than a year ago, so there was a good chance he was still there.

"Hopps," she heard from behind her. She turned to find Chief Bogo leaning against the wall of her cubicle. The large buffalo wore his usual stern expression that somehow complimented the stars on his collar.

"Sir!" she said and respectfully stood.

"Easy, Hopps. I'm not sure if Clawhauser got the message to you, but I assigned you Sahara Square patrol for the day," he said.

"Oh," she said nervously. "Yes, he did tell me sir."

"Well? You're decidedly not in Sahara Square right now."

"Yes, I'm sorry sir. It's just . . . well I—"

"—were probably wondering who your next partner is so you came back to await orders," he finished for her. "Well, Hopps, Officer Wolford has volunteered to be your stand-in partner for the time being. Considering you've been on the beat together in the past, I think it is fitting. He's been assigned standard patrol in Savanna Central today, so I suggest you get your tail out of that seat and form up."

Judy could not respond even if words could form quickly enough. The Chief finished his orders and walked away towards his office. While it was certainly characteristic of the Chief to be brief, given the current circumstances she expected at least _something_ about Nick.

Judy shook her head out of her confusion and grabbed the address she jotted down. She made her way down the stairs and into the lobby where Officer Wolford was waiting for her.

The white timberwolf smiled confidently as she approached. Wolford had been Judy's first partner on patrols a few years back. After the Nighthowler case, the Chief trusted her with more standard police work and Wolford was assigned to teach her the ropes. Wolford asserted it was because of his renowned intellect, while the Chief said it was he was because he was the second shortest in the precinct, next to her. A part of her really did look forward to working with him again.

"Chief says I'm not to let you out of my sight," Wolford said with a smile. His tone was convincing, but the slightest wag of his tail betrayed his excitement. She smiled back and winked at him.

"Can't fight the Chief," she said with a shrug and began walking back towards the parking lot. Wolford's tail wagged a little more as they exited the building and headed towards his cruiser.

"Just like old times, right Hopps?" he said cheerily.

"No way, Max. I'm not a rookie anymore," she said and hopped up onto the seat. While she was not too thrilled about being in a car that was much too big for her, she was happier that she did not have to investigate leads alone.

"That's right. My little Meter-Maid is all grown up. I'm so proud," he said with a mocking show of affection, placing a paw on his chest before leaping into the cruiser. He gave the radio dial a click before closing the door behind him. His expression did not dampen, but as soon as they were alone in the cruiser, Wolford began to whisper.

"So where are we goin'?" he asked eagerly.

"Out to the Meadows," she instructed before fishing out the address from her pocket. "114 North Dandelion Ave."

"Alrighty," he said and put the car in gear before pulling onto the highway entrance.

"We're looking for a Capybara named Marcus Spitzer who goes by 'Spitz'," she explained.

"Can't say I've heard of him," he shrugged.

"He's not really big fish. According to his file, he was first arrested for indecent exposure and sexual harassment after finishing high school. He was linked to a few mob ops, but posted bail each time. Recently he got released after a six year sentence for grand-theft auto and brandishing a deadly weapon."

"Someone's been playing too many video games," Wolford said and shook his head. "Kids these days. Anything else his file mention?" Judy nodded.

"He apparently did not show up to his meeting with his parole officer last week, so on the books our visit today is just a 30-56."

"Your source said he was getting good money from a new boss, right?" he clarified.

"Yes, a mystery new boss who pays high for scavenging jobs," she said.

"Why though? It's a simple enough job to go find an abandoned house and see what parts you can fish out. Scavenging is barely even a felony, and most who do it are just desperate vagrants. "

"That's what we're going to find out," she said confidently and peered out the window as the glimmering towers of downtown began to fade behind them.

The Meadows were a rough part of town. So rough that it had its own dedicated precinct. Despite the increased police presence, it was the most crime-ridden part of the city. The houses were all thin and falling apart with many of them foreclosed by the bank. She responded to a few calls up there for domestic disturbances from time to time, but Nick always knew his way around the folks from that part of town. He had a way of making the locals feel at ease, whereas she felt like an outsider. This would be the first time she ventured into the Meadows without Nick by her side.

"You alright?" Wolford asked.

"Huh? Oh, yeah," she shook her head. "Its just a lot to take in. I've got a lot on my mind."

"I don't blame you," he said and nodded. "You have any ideas on what Wilde is up to?" he asked.

Judy blinked. Back at Flake's, the going theory had been Nick was only playing along with whatever Pumar was up to. She thought through a couple of scenarios, but she was less concerned with 'why' than with 'how' at the moment. She could always figure out the 'why' part when she found him later.

"At first I thought it could have been the truth, since he's so well connected. But after I noticed his shirt from the picture, I figured it was a hustle. Maybe he's trying to learn more about Pumar from the inside," she suggested.

"Would he really do that without telling you?" Wolford asked.

"If he thought it might put me in danger, then maybe. There is also a chance he's being blackmailed."

"I get it. If Pumar is an old associate of his, then Pumar could bring the whole world down on Nick in no time. So he ropes Nick into helping him score big," Wolford said and nodded his head along with Judy's idea.

"Exactly," she said and thumped her hand on the center console. "If that's the case, then we need to be on the lookout for anything Nick might leave us. Speaking of which, how is your nose these days?" she asked.

Wolford's mouth turned upward into a sly smile. Keeping his eyes on the road, he turned his head slightly towards Judy and took a few short breaths through his nose. His snout bounced lightly in the air as he sniffed for a moment before clearing his throat.

"You had arugula salad for dinner last night, and you use Ramtine Pro-V shampoo, but no conditioner," he said with a grin.

"Is that all?" she joked, more than impressed with his abilities.

"Well, I didn't want to say anythin' else, but there's a _whole_ lotta Wilde on you too," he said with a smirk. Judy's ears went bright red as she gave Wolford a slight shove to the shoulder.

"Maxwell!" she scolded him. "How did you even get that? I showered this morning!"

"Hey! Mixing other scents into your fur does not get rid of the other scents on you," he explained.

"Ugh," she groaned. "Have I been walking around the office reeking of fox for the past year?"

"You two are pretty much covered toe to toe with each other at this point. Grizzoli has a theory that your scents have actually merged into one now." The blush deepened on Judy's cheeks as she hid her face in the palm of her hand.

"We thought we were so good at hiding it, too," she said with another groan.

"Hey, if it's any consolation, only the certified sniffers would be able to pick up on it. Grizzoli and I never said a word."

"Well thank you for that," she said and shook the embarrassment from her face.

They eventually turned off the busy roads and headed into the thicker part of the Meadows. Each house was separated by just enough space for a medium-sized mammal to fit through. Many of them had bars on the windows and others were boarded up completely. They drove past a group of kids on bicycles, likely skipping school for the day.

"Up here," she said and pointed at the house marked 114. The house was nothing special from the others around it. A medium sized pickup truck was parked in the driveway. The truck sported so many after-market modifications it was practically 100 trucks put together. Wolford pulled over and parked right outside, giving the building a once-over. Both officers left their vehicle and made their way to the front door.

"Huh," Wolford murmured and leaned over the fence to take a closer look at the pickup in the driveway.

"What is it?" Judy asked.

"This truck strike you as odd?" he asked back.

"It's modified to no end. The guy probably spent a fortune on it," she said.

"What kind of mammal spends thousands on a customized truck and leaves the keys in the ignition?" Wolford said. Judy glanced back at the truck and furrowed her brow.

"Did he lock them inside?" she wondered. Wolford tested her theory by tugging on the passenger door. It hitched open with no complaints, and the wolf shot Judy a puzzled glance. Judy could only shrug back at him and look back at the front door. The mailbox was full of bills and junk mail, and the windows were so filthy she could hardly see anything through them. Wolford stepped up the stoop and joined her by front of the door.

"Woah," he said with a start. "Something is definitely off, Hopps."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Something's going on here. I can smell ammonia," he said.

"You sure?"

"Definitely, along with some other things I don't recognize."

Judy of course couldn't smell anything, but that was unsurprising. What _was_ surprising was when she went to knock on the door and it drifted open effortlessly. Judy looked back to Wolford and placed her paw on her tranquilizer gun resting on her hip. Wolford nodded and leaned into his shoulder.

"Dispatch, this is Wolford," he called into the radio. After a moment of static, Clawhauser's voice returned his message.

"Go ahead, Max," the radio chimed.

"I've got probable cause on a 30-56 out in the Meadows on Dandelion. Be advised, we're going to take a look inside," he said.

"Rodger that, Wolford," Clawhauser said before the radio went silent.

"After you," Wolford said and fished his own tranq out of its holster. Judy kept her weapon low as she slowly pushed the front door open with her back and observed the entryway.

As soon as she opened the door, she noticed the odd chemical smell Wolford mentioned. It wasn't strong, but it was strange. It was almost like the air had been artificially manufactured in a factory somewhere in a way to mimic normal air. Judy immediately noticed a mess in the living room beside the front door.

"What do you make of that?" she asked and pointed to the rug in the middle of the room. In the center of the rug stood a glass jar overflowing with bubbles. Whatever the foam was, it seeped out of jar and into the carpet. The bubbles looked almost solid and were coated in a thin layer of dust. It looked like it would procure a vile odor, yet the smell was tolerable to Judy.

"That's what is making it stink in here, I'd guess," Wolford said quietly. Judy nodded, noting that the smell was much worse for her partner.

"Looks like my middle school science fair project," Wolford continued.

"I doubt there is anyone here. Someone living here would have cleaned this up by now. It looks like it's been here a while," Judy observed.

"Days. Weeks even," Wolford mentioned as he reached out and popped one of the bubbles with his claw. It deflated like a balloon rather than disappearing.

"Let's move along. If those chemicals are making that smell, then I don't want to breath it in longer than we need to," Judy said. Her partner nodded and rose to check the Kitchen.

Judy made her way upstairs and kept her tranq out and low. She rounded each corner carefully, noting the dust that settled on practically every inch of the house, even the floor. She opened the bedroom door and found a second jar. This one also leaked strange foam and soaked the carpet around it.

"Got another one up here," Judy called out to her partner.

"Hopps, take a look at this down here," he called back in return. Judy made her way back down the stairs and joined her partner in the kitchen. Wolford stood by the refrigerator holding the door open.

Inside the refrigerator there were two large tanks with some kind of piping leading out either end. The shelving in the fridge had been removed to make room for the tanks that lay catawampus against each other. Judy cocked an eyebrow and the strange sight and shot a glance at her partner.

"Water heaters?" she wondered.

"Small ones. Would probably only work for a rodent apartment complex or maybe a single small-mammal apartment," he said.

"Too small for this place, then," she noted.

"But why the fridge? Obviously our guy does not care to cook much, but you'd think he'd keep his pizza in here or something," Wolford said.

Judy pondered why someone would keep water heaters in his refrigerator when she found one more door. It was off from the kitchen and led under the staircase. Curiosity was getting the best of her at that moment as she holstered her tranq and gave a short hop to grab the doorknob and pull it open with a rusty creak.

"Woah!" Wolford nearly barked. "Eyes up Hopps!"

Judy leaped off the door and pulled her tranq out again at lightening pace, training it on the doorway. It was empty, and led down a dark staircase towards the basement. Wolford's nose bounced as he sniffed the air that seeped from the doorway. His eyes were wide and his tranq was steadily pointing at the darkness.

"What do you smell now?" she whispered.

"More chemicals, along with something foul," he said. The curiosity and calm demeanor had all but vanished from his voice as he slowly made his way down the staircase.

Judy followed closely behind, but had trouble seeing anything in the absolute darkness. As she approached the bottom, she began notice something else in the air. The chemical smell was stronger, but the air seemed to sting her nose with something putrid as well. She still could not see a thing so she held close to where her partner was standing.

"Shit," Wolford gasped.

"What?" Judy said and squinted, trying to make out whatever it was that made Wolford drop his tranq on the floor. Judy cursed herself for being foolish and not pulling her phone out sooner. She quickly hit the flashlight function and shined it towards her partner. He was staring at the wall with a ghostly look on his face. Judy followed his eyes and shined the light on the wall. She jumped, nearly dropping her phone on the floor before regaining her composure and holding her phone back up.

What was left of Marcus Spitzer lay limp against the wall. There were clear marks in his shirt, where bullets had torn through. But the rest of what she saw was distorted and blackened with rot.

Judy tasted bile.

"Dispatch, this is Wolford. We've got a 10-22 at 114 North Dandelion Avenue," he said into his shoulder.

"C-copy that, Max. Sending backup and paramedics now!" Clawhauser called back.

"No need for medics," Wolford hailed back. "It looks to be at least a week old, maybe longer."

Judy could not tear her eyes away from the corpse in front of her. It was not the first body she saw on the force, but in the few cases she handled that involved a death, they had either been accidents or first-responses to a shooting. The bodies she saw before were all at least still recognizable as living creatures. One might pretend they were only sleeping. This one was morphed into something terrible. The only thing that kept her from turning away and loosing her lunch was that the smell was gracefully bearable. Realizing that, she turned to her partner.

"We couldn't smell this upstairs," she noted. Wolford nodded.

"A body kept this long above ground should have the entire neighborhood clutching their noses."

Judy turned to the glass jar behind her that rested on the floor. Like the others, this one bubbled over with foam that looked nearly solid and filled the air with a sickening chemical smell.

"It's the jars," she said. "Whoever did this wanted to keep it secret but didn't have enough time to get rid of the body properly."

"I couldn't even smell it from upstairs. Whatever the foam is, it had me for a chump until we opened the basement door," Wolford said and looked down at Judy. He noticed she was staring back at the body up against the wall with a disappointed frown.

"Come on Hopps. Let's get upstairs and wait for everyone else," he said and put a paw on her shoulder. "Nothing we could have done."

"It wasn't him," she whispered.

"What?" He turned back to the small bunny beside him.

"Nothing," she shrugged him off her shoulder and turned towards the stairs. "Let's go."

* * *

The forensic team went to work quickly. The entire block was filled to the brim with cruisers with their lights blaring. The sun was already down and the swirling blue and red from the police cars filled out the neighborhood in both directions. Judy watched as Sptiz's body was carried in a black bodybag into the back of an ambulance. It would not take a coroner to conclude the cause of death was a bullet to the chest.

From how old the crime scene was, it was not likely the traffic cams were going to help. They automatically wiped their memory every week to keep memory space open.

What was more interesting to her was the ballistics on the bullet buried in the wall behind where his body was. The caliber of firearms varied widely, and the size of the gun was usually a good tell of the size of the animal who fired it. The lab would likely find something from the jars that could link them to whoever did it. If the murderer was covering his tracks in a rush, he was more likely to make a mistake and give them something to go on.

Judy's cellphone dinged in her pocket. She pulled up a text from Clawhauser addressed to her, Wolford, Francine, and Fangmeyer.

 _*The ZBI are back at the precinct, except for Agent Savage*,_ it read. Judy quickly texted her teamback.

_*With this lead gone cold, we'll need to focus on hunting down whoever's buying chlorine underground. Francine, can you check the arrest records in the past month for anyone arrested for smuggling or dealing? Look for anyone who had pool-cleaning chemicals with them at the time.*_

Judy hopped off the hood of the cruiser she was sitting on and looked down at her phone waiting for a reply. It was unlikely that Francine would find anything, mostly because that is the sort of detail that might get left out of an arrest report because it was seemingly unimportant.

 _*Sure thing, Hopps*_ Francine texted them back. She began walking and texting another request for Clawhauser to let her know as soon as Agent Savage was back at headquarters.

Right as she rounded the edge of the car, she collided with another mammal who nearly made her leap into the air with a start.

"Officer Hopps," Agent Savage greeted her. "I am sorry if I startled you."

Judy frowned and dusted herself off.

"Not at all, Agent Savage. Might I ask what you're doing at my crime scene?"

The bunny simply straightened out the lapels on his suit and gave her a calm look of indifference.

"We have an international murderer on the loose, officer. Any murder deserves my attention," he said.

"I'm afraid there is not much here to help," she said. She was being honest of course, but she was careful not to give Agent Savage the impression she was hiding something from him.

"Why do you say that?"

"Well, for starters this was a simple house-call. He missed his last parole meeting so we just showed up to give him his warning. The rest of it is as you see here," she said and gestured to the house. "The only odd things here were the sent-diffusers."

"Is that something you see here often?" he asked.

"Can't say I ever have, though I haven't had the chance to ask anyone else yet back at the precinct." Again, she was not lying, though she was almost certain that no one had seen that trick before.

"I see. So nothing else odd about this one?" he asked her.

"There were water heaters in the refrigerator," she remembered. "Any idea what that could be about?"

"Sorry, Hopps. You had your chance to ask questions like that," he reminded her. She furrowed her brow at Savage as he turned towards the house. He really was beginning to bother her. She answered his questions, albeit vaguely, but he was clearly not interested in working quid-pro-quo. Before he left, he knelt down and picked something up off the ground before turning back toward Judy with a raised eyebrow.

"Before I go, Hopps, you might want this back," he said and held up her phone in his paw. Judy's eyes widened. She hadn't even realized she dropped it. She did not thank him, instead she scooped it up out of his paws and continued to scowl at him. Agent Savage did not reflect her frustration back at her. He kept that infuriatingly calm look on his face and turned toward the crime scene.

Once he was gone, she looked back down at her phone, hoping that one of the others had something else to go on. Instead she saw no new messages and sighed.

Wolford was filling the lab-techs in on all the details they noticed, and each of them began carrying small plastic bags of evidence back towards the van. Other officers were keeping a small crowd of curious citizens at bay behind a line of yellow police tape. She thought of Spitz, and how Finnick had told her that he liked to run his mouth. Whoever scared him into keeping quiet, they scared him for good reason. She turned again and observed Spitz's custom truck. The other investigators ignored it.

On not much more than a whim, she walked around the side of the truck and hopped into the driver seat. She looked around at anything that might give her another lead. Perhaps a coffee mug that might tell her where he was before he got home, or a list of items to pick up while scavenging. Instead, she found dirt in the cupholders, unpaid parking tickets in the glove box, and keys in the ignition.

"What the heck," she sighed and placed her foot on the break, needing to reach out with her toes as far as she could. She twisted the keys in the steering column, but nothing happened. She tried again, and still there was only silence. There was no sign that the engine was even turning. The truck was just completely dead.

She groaned. That explained why the car had not been stolen in the week's time it stayed in the driveway with the keys inside. Judy was just about to give up when she noticed something odd about the keys.

A single small strand of fur was lodged into the keychain. It looked light brown, and was much too long to belong to a capybara. She carefully plucked it out of the keychain and held it between her fingers. It was evidence, and thus it needed to get filed into the police report. She would file it, along with everything else she discovered that night.

Eventually.


	5. Softball

Waiting was always the worst part of any case. The majority of cases needed some kind of lab work in order to confirm evidence that would hold up in court. On the one hand, it could come as a welcome respite from a case that Judy had otherwise wrapped up. On the other, it could be a painful waiting period that kept her from finding their suspect sooner. In either case, she and Nick almost never made an arrest or pressed charges until the lab could confirm their suspicions, and that could take anywhere from a few hours to days.

 

The lab rats received tons of work to filter through from the crime scene at Spitz’s house, so they would likely be working through the night as it was. When Judy showed up with a single strand of fur, there was hardly enough time to explain herself.

 

“Please, I just need to know what you can tell me from this,” she asked.

 

“Officer, do you have any idea how buried we are right now?” the small grey rodent asked as he gestured to the room full of scurrying rats.

 

“I know Remi, but please. If we can get a positive I.D. on this strand, we might be able to find the killer,” she pleaded.

 

Remi sighed, and after a brief moment took the small plastic baggie from Judy’s paw and rolled it up, holding it underneath his armpit.

 

“Why didn’t this come in with the rest of the evidence?” he asked.

 

“Well, funny story actually,” Judy began with a laugh. “I was on my way back when my sister Harriet called – ”

 

“—on second thought, it doesn’t matter. I’ll let you know what I find as soon as I can,” Remi assured her, and with their conversation concluded, made his way back towards the lab.

 

Judy gave a satisfied smirk. Her ability to play mammals like that certainly proved useful from time to time, and it was a skill she owed entirely to Nick. Her smirk soon faded as she realized that she was now in the waiting period, and it was unlikely she would hear anything new for the rest of the day.

 

Her phone’s clock told her it was late, and the other members of her team were all asleep by now. Judy made her way back to her apartment, all the while going over the various bits of evidence she had thus far. Normally, she had Nick to bounce ideas off of, and his absence left her feeling uneasy.

 

That uneasy feeling amplified as she opened the door to her apartment. The silence felt strange. Not having him quip about their day made the walls feel unfamiliar. What was worse was climbing into bed alone for the first time in a long while. The auto-thermostat kept the bedroom cold, just as he liked it. But instead of crawling into the covers and warming herself by his side, Judy held her knees to her chest and wondered. She thought about where he was, about what he was doing, and whether or not he was thinking about her in that moment. It was not easy to calm herself enough to find sleep, but she needed her rest to tackle the case in front of her, so eventually she nodded off.

 

The next morning felt strange. Once again, Judy was alone in a room meant for two. This time she knew why, and it made her hold the sheets a little tighter in her paws. She spent as little time as she could going through her morning routine, trying her best not to dawdle on activities that reminded her of him. She took a quick shower, grabbed a nibble of something in the fridge, and left her apartment behind.

 

Judy arrived early at the precinct, even by her standards. She hoped that Remi would have some news from the lab for her, but sadly he did not. She decided to spend her time before roll call digging up some more info on the network. When she got to the cubicles, she was surprised to find Francine at her desk staring holes into her computer screen.

 

“Francine?” Judy said. The elephant nearly jumped with a start, looking down to find Judy staring up at her.

 

“Hi Judy,” Francine said with a smile.

 

“Have you been here all night?” Judy asked.

“Oh no no,” Francine reassured her. “I got here not too long ago. I had to leave yesterday to go pick up the kids, but I was getting close to something so I got here a little early. I just wanted to see if I could dig something up before you got here this morning.”

 

Judy smiled at her coworker’s dedication. She never had any reason to doubt Officer Pennington’s resolve, but Judy had never worked much with her in the past. Even if it wasn’t much help, it was good for her spirit to see Francine working so hard.

 

“Thanks Francine. It means a lot, even if you didn’t find anything.” Francine shot Judy a sideways glance.

 

“Who says I didn’t find anything?”

 

“Did you?” Judy said excitedly. Her ears perked up as Francine smiled at her and patted the spot on her desk beside the keyboard. Judy wasted no time and leapt up onto Francine’s desk to peer at the screen. The screen was practically as tall as Judy was, and the keyboard was about the size of her bed.

 

“At first I wasn’t digging up anything, but then I remembered that the ‘officer’s notes’ section of arrest reports often don’t get scanned into the text file, so they’re not searchable. I was reading for anything that might have something to do with what your informant described as ‘pool-cleaning supplies’ when I found this arrest record a few minutes ago.”

 

Francine pulled up a file that showed a scanned arrest record of one ‘William Vanderhoof’. The photo on the screen displayed a strange mammal that Judy did not recognize, looking at the camera with a vague indifference.

 

“What kind of mammal is that?” she asked, looking for the entry under ‘species’.

 

“A dik-dik. It’s a bit like a small deer with horns,” Francine explained.

 

“Hmm,” Judy pondered as she began to read aloud. “Arrested for possession with intent to distribute, charged with loitering and posted bail. Looks like a run-of-the-mill dealer.”

 

“I thought so too, but look here at ‘officer’s notes’,” Francine said as she scrolled down to the bottom of the page. Judy read the section Francine mentioned and noticed the detailed account of the arrest, written in sloppy handwriting.

_Suspect was found at the corner of Birch and Vine in the Rainforest District. When questioned, he asserted he was simply waiting for a friend. Found three bags of nip, enough change to stock a cash register, and a backpack containing about twelve pounds of chlorine. When asked about the chemicals, he simply said the customer asked for it. Chlorine? Really? If all you want is to keep your pool clean, then just go to Harry’s Hardware down the block like a normal mammal._

 

Judy’s eyes widened. The last sentence was _verbatim_ what Finnick had told her the day before.

 

“Who was the officer on this file?”

 

Francine smiled again and scrolled up. The top of the file in bold letters read **Arresting Officer: _Wilde._**

 

“That’s gotta be him,” Judy said confidently.  “When was this arrest reported?”

 

“Last month,” Francine mentioned.

 

“I was visiting family for a few days. Nick met me out there, but he must have made this arrest before finishing his last shift! Francine, this is exactly what we needed this morning.” Judy smiled at her coworker. Francine smiled back before looking at the watch on her wrist.

 

“We better get to roll,” she said, already beginning to stand up from her cubicle.

 

“When you get back, see if you can pick him up on traffic cameras during the past week on that spot. If he still visits the spot, then we can grab him. Text me if you find anything.”

 

“You got it,” Francine affirmed, offering hearty thumbs up. Judy made her way to roll call with a new spring in her step. She _knew_ there was a reason she liked Francine.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Roll call started early, and the Chief wasted no time in getting right to the assignments.

 

“Officers Wolford and Grizzoli, the ZBI has requested some sniffers in their ongoing investigation, so I’m sending you upstairs. You’ll be meeting with Agent Maple,” Bogo ordered. Wolford shot Judy a quick glance, then looked backed to the Chief and nodded before joining his coworker out the door.

 

While Judy was hoping to have Wolford with her that day, she decided it was useful to have a mammal taking a closer look at what Savage was up to. Wolford was smart enough to know that.

 

“Lastly, Officer Hopps is in need of a temporary partner for the day. Do I have any volunteers?” Bogo asked. Judy was surprised to find more than a handful of officers raise their paws. The sight would normally be heartwarming, if it weren’t for the fact that she needed to chase down her leads and wanted someone on her team with her.

 

“Alright then. Officer Snarlof, you and Hopps are in the Rainforest District today.”

Judy thought about raising a paw and suggesting she be given a solo assignment for the day. It would certainly be insulting to poor Snarlof, but she could not afford to waste time on normal patrols that day with an officer she needed to keep secrets from. Before she got the opportunity to, Officer Fangmeyer stood up.

 

“Sir? Officer Delgato is still on vacation. Would it not make more sense to pair two officers who are both missing partners?” Bogo looked back down at his docket and shot Fangmeyer a glance.

 

“Ah, yes. I was going to put you on the ‘Spitz’ case. You would rather spend today on standard patrols with Hopps?” Bogo asked. Fangmeyer nodded, keeping her expression respectful. Bogo then turned to Judy.

 

“Any complaints, Hopps?” he asked.

 

“No sir,” she said firmly.

 

“Well then, you’re both on Rainforest patrol today,” he finished and turned his attention to the rest of the room. “While we’re waiting for lab results on the ‘Spitz’ case, I want everyone’s eyes peeled. Remember, Pumar is our number one priority. I don’t care about species profiling right now, if you see a mountain lion that looks even a tiny bit suspicious, call it in. Dismissed!” Bogo finished. With that, he made his way to the door and headed back upstairs.

 

Judy fell in line behind Fangmeyer as they both made their way outside into the parking lot. Judy’s phone buzzed, displaying a text from Francine.

 

_*Vine and Birch. He’s there now.*_

 

“Yes!” she hissed. Fangmeyer made a point of ignoring whatever she was happy about and got inside the cruiser on the driver’s side. Judy quickly joined her, struggling for a moment with the seatbelt that was two sizes too large for her. She gave up completely on being able to see out the window of Fangmeyer’s cruiser.

 

“Nice work at roll” she said. “Thought the chief would chew you out for second-guessing him.”

 

“Bogo doesn’t care about _feeling_ in charge, he just wants the work done,” the large tigress commented. “I’m guessing we have something to go on this morning?”

 

“Thanks to Francine, yes. We’re looking for a dik-dik named William Vanderhoof. A small-time dealer, might have some info on our buyer of chlorine.”

 

“Where to?” Fangmeyer inquired.

 

“Birch Street and Vine.”

 

“Got it,” she said, putting the cruiser in gear and setting off. “We hear anything from the lab rats yet?”

 

“No,” Judy replied. “As soon as we do, we’re going to have to move on that evidence as fast as we can. Right now, that is our best advantage over the ZBI. If Spitz’s killer is involved with Pumar, then finding him might lead us to Nick faster.”

 

“What makes you think that Spitz’s killer is involved with Pumar?” Fangmeyer asked.

 

“Not much,” Judy confessed. “Spitz was employed for some scavenging work by a new mystery boss around the same time Pumar would have been in Griño detonating a bomb. Whoever this mystery boss was, he paid top dollar for secrecy and might have killed Spitz to keep him quiet. If that’s the case, whatever Spitz was scavenging for might be linked to the bombs Pumar plans to sell here in the city.”

 

“What does a bomb salesman need a scavenger for?” Fangmeyer asked.

 

“Materials, perhaps. Pumar’s supplier is still unknown, and whoever they are, they’ve got to be good at chemistry to weaponize Nighthowler toxin.”

 

“Chemistry,” Fangmeyer clarified. “Good enough to mix a jar of chemicals to throw police off the scent of a rotting corpse?”

 

“Exactly,” Judy said. “I think Spitz’s killer might be Pumar’s supplier.”

 

“Hmm,” Fangmeyer wondered. “It sounds plausible, but can I be frank, Hopps? It sounds a bit like we’re grasping at straws here. I’m hearing a lot of ‘maybes’ so far, and we can’t arrest anyone on ‘maybe’.”

 

“You’re right,” Judy conceded. “The honest truth is that all of this is stemming from my conversation with Finnick. He was given information directly from Nick, and so anything Nick left us is coming from him.”

 

“If that’s the case, shouldn’t we be interrogating your informant?”

 

“Nick wouldn’t have told Finnick too much, to keep him from being an accomplice. We need to trust that Nick told him exactly what we needed to hear,” Judy explained.

 

“I see. So we’re following Nick by following your informant.” Fangmeyer nodded. “Can’t say it isn’t working thus far. I just hope we’re following the right trail.”

 

Judy was about to retort when her phone buzzed again. This time it was from Clawhauser.

* _ZBI split up into two today. One team took Wolford and Grizzoli, the other is just Agents Savage and Brocktree, the badger. Not sure where they’re going. Chief seems to be putting up a fight. Sounds like they’re keeping him in the dark.*_

 

Judy thought about what the Chief was actually up to. All things considered, he was unlikely to sit back and let the feds handle things. Nor was he likely to be made one of the ZBI’s henchman. She and Fangmeyer made their way through the tunnel that separated Savannah Central and the Rainforest District, popping out the other side into a blinding sun.

 

“Fangmeyer, you’ve been working with the Chief for a long time, right?” Judy asked.

 

“Sure have,” she said with a nod. “Going on 24 years now.”

 

“Really?” Judy said, astonished. She knew Fangmeyer had been on the force for some time, but she had no idea just how long. It was hard for her to imagine the Chief as a young bull.

 

“Yeah,” Fangmeyer replied. “Why do you ask?”

 

“I was just wondering if you might know what’s going on in his mind? If it’s not too much to ask,” Judy said carefully.

 

“Hmm,” Fangmeyer pondered. “He takes everything seriously. The ZBI will need him to cooperate before this is all over, and the evidence against Nick right now is pretty overwhelming.” Judy frowned and reluctantly agreed that the Chief was in no position to play favorites.

 

“But,” Fangmeyer continued, “Chief Bogo has lost officers before, and I don’t think he intends to do so now.”

 

Whether or not Fangmeyer was just trying to cheer her up, Judy was unsure. She had faith that Nick was still hers, but to solve this case she needed to have faith in her fellow officers as well, and that included the Chief.

 

“Hm,” Fangmeyer smirked. “The last time I saw that look on your face, you broke the record for most parking tickets written in a day.”

 

“What?” Judy said, shaking her head out of her previous thought.

 

“You’ve got this fire behind your eyes, sometimes. Makes a cop glad to be a cop.”

 

“Thanks,” Judy said, rather bashfully. “It means a lot coming from a senior officer.”

 

“I was a little afraid that kind of look would have vanished by now after a few years on the force. The beat does that to some mammals,” the larger officer noted.

 

“Is that what happened for you?” Judy asked. She blinked, wondering what on earth possessed her to be so bold. “I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have asked that! How rude of me. Here you are trying to be nice to me and I’m questioning _your_ resolve!” Judy asserted, waving her paws in the air to try and wipe the assuming question from the air as if it were on a chalk-board.

“Easy Hopps. Don’t worry, I get it,” Fangmeyer reassured her. “I think we just became cops for different reasons. You clearly wanted to prove yourself and make a difference in the world. That takes guts and determination.”

 

“Well I’m sure you have your reasons for being in this line of work. I don’t think you’d stay for 24 years otherwise,” Judy said with a smile. Fangmeyer’s mouth flattened.

 

“I suppose. My only interest was making sure my kids grew up in a safer place than I did.”

 

Judy did not comment any further. The tiger’s face grew rather sullen at the mention of her childhood, which Judy guessed was not as peaceful as her’s had been on the Hopps farm. Years ago, the apex predators in Zootopia were often recruited very young by organized crime, so there was no telling what kind of trials Fangmeyer endured to escape that life. Instead of any more probing, she decided to change the subject.

 

“Speaking of kids, how’s the family?” Judy asked.

 

“Oh, the boys are doing just fine. Richard is studying hard, and Parker is a bit of a pawful. They are both fans of yours, by the way.”

 

“What? No, I’m sure their real hero is their mom,” Judy stated. That comment made Fangmeyer smile softly, giving Judy the satisfaction that the tiger was officially cheered up.

 

“Hopps, is that our guy?” Fangmeyer said, pointing out the windshield. Judy stood in her seat to see over the dashboard. Sure enough, a relatively small deer dressed in a sloppy set of denim jeans and a windbreaker leaned up against the wall of a nearby thrift store at the edge of the intersection.

 

“That’s him,” Judy said confidently.

 

“Looks like we’ve got a runner,” Fangmeyer observed as she pulled farther forward and into a parking spot.

 

“What? He’s not running,” Judy observed.

 

“Did you see the way he leered at the cruiser as we drove by? Trust me Hopps, limber up.”

 

Judy was not one to question the advice from a senior officer, but she also found it hard to believe she could tell he would bolt just from a look. Judy preferred to work with hard evidence before jumping to conclusions. She made that mistake on her first case, and she was not keen on repeating it. But sure enough, as she and the tigress approached him, he tossed his cigarette and began walking in the opposite direction keeping his hands in his pockets. Judy did as Fangmeyer suggested and rolled her shoulders in anticipation.

 

“Ready?” Fangmeyer whispered.

 

“Whenever you’re ready,” Judy confirmed. Fangmeyer smiled and placed a paw to her mouth before calling out to him.

 

“Excuse me sir! ZPD, we’d like a word.”

 

She may as well have fired a starting gun, because the dik-dik bolted forward down the sidewalk. The two officers wasted no time pursuing him, calling out for the other pedestrians to step aside.

 

“Stop! ZPD, clear the way!” Judy shouted as she avoided a hare pushing a long stroller. Fangmeyer fell a bit behind as she was having trouble making a safe path around the crowd.

 

Judy began to get closer as the runner shot a glance over his shoulder. When he saw the rabbit beginning to close on him, he veered to the side and headed down a different street.

 

“Keep on him!” Fangmeyer called out from Judy’s side. The tiger had elected to avoid the sidewalk and instead ran in the street at full tilt. She caught up to them quickly and began to box the dik-dik in. Just before Judy was ready to make a move, a herd of wildebeest emerged from around the next corner. Their perp took the opportunity and headed straight into them, vanishing behind a forest of legs. Judy dove underneath their legs and continued the chase. Behind her, she could hear Fangmeyer calling out for the crowd to make way.

 

Judy followed as he began to toss trash cans to the ground in his wake. She easily vaulted over them and used the opportunity to observe the path forward. The road split into two directions in front of them with an alley between two larger townhomes in their direct path.

 

“I’ve got an idea!” Judy called out behind her. Fangmeyer was now catching up to them, running in the street again. “Force him into the alley!”

 

“I got right, you get left!” Fangmeyer answered, grunting as she kicked her legs into high gear. While Judy was certainly capable of maneuvering and dodging, she was impressed with Fangmeyer’s top speed.

 

Judy was now close enough to hear the small mammal panting as he pushed ahead desperately. He veered in one direction, looking to make a sharp turn at the next split in the road. Judy quickly drew her tranq and fired. The dart zoomed past his left foot and made him jump in reflex towards the other direction. He turned to head down the other street, only to find Fangmeyer nearly on top of him blocking his path to the right. He carefully jumped away from her, just out of her reach, and headed directly forward towards the alley.

 

Judy saw his figure plunge into darkness as he passed into the shadow of the homes on either side. She and Fangmeyer were now sprinting right beside one another as they entered the alley behind him. Time for her idea.

 

“Throw me!” she called up towards Fangmeyer.

 

“What!?” the tigress balked.

 

“Now!” Judy called out as she kicked off the ground with both her legs as hard as she could. Fangmeyer carefully caught Judy by her midsection and drew her back. Judy made herself small, keeping her eyes on the perp nearing the alley exit as Fangmeyer hurled her forward with her next stride. Judy turned for a moment, facing the wrong direction while her body felt weightless. The poor dik-dik could only gawk as he saw Judy sail past him through the air. She turned her hips and shifted her legs forward before colliding with the ground and rolling to a stop. She stood and faced the perp who was now coming towards her.

 

“Woah!” he exclaimed, almost falling forward trying to stop in time. Judy was ready with her paws up and legs set to pounce if he tried to make it past her. He wheeled around to face the other direction, only to find Fangmeyer staring down at him with her paws over her chest.

 

“Nice throw,” Judy complimented her colleague.

 

“I was second-base on the softball team against the fire department,” Fangmeyer commented, keeping her eyes on their prey. Judy could almost _hear_ Nick’s voice comment on the word ‘softball’. If he ever heard this story, that would undoubtedly be a new nickname for her.

 

“Woah, woah, I didn’t do nothin’,” the runner said with his hooves up, backing up against the wall.

 

“I’d hardly call running from the police and reckless endangerment ‘nothin’,” Fangmeyer scolded him.

 

“You guys were chasin’ me! I didn’t do nothin’ wrong!” he spat.

 

“Take it easy, Mr. Vanderhoof, we just want to talk,” Judy assured, deciding now was a good time to play good cop.

 

“You cops usually chase the folks you ‘just want to talk’ with?”

 

“Only when they run,” Fangmeyer added.

 

“I ain’t sayin’ nothin’ to you guys.”

 

“Oh? If we take you in for reckless endangerment and resisting arrest, we’ll also confiscate anything you got on you, and a little birdy told us you sell nip in your spare time. What do you think, Hopps? Should we search him?” Fangmeyer asked her. The dik-dik became suddenly quiet and nervously glanced at Judy.

 

“Please, Mr. Vanderhoof, we’ll waive the resisting arrest and endangerment charges if you cooperate. We just need some info on one of your buyers,” Judy pleaded. Their perp huffed and leaned against the brick wall to his side.

 

“Fine. But don’t call me Mr. Vanderhoof. I ain’t my dad. I’m Willie,” he corrected her.

 

“Thank you Willie,” Judy said, relaxing her posture. Fangmeyer kept her arms crossed but gave Judy and Willie enough space to speak without being crowded.

 

“I haven’t dealt for the big bosses in years,” he said defensively.

 

“I know,” Judy said. “I read your file. You recently got booked for loitering at the same spot we found you at. Care to tell us why you haven’t found a new corner?”

 

“Cause that was the deal,” Willie said nonchalantly.

 

“Deal?” Judy queried.

 

“Yeah, with the fox cop. Said he likes to keep contacts in the underground, in case he needs a favor. I had to stay in this area, and I had to talk when he came askin’. In return, he said he wouldn’t book me as long as all I sold was nip.”

 

“Sounds like a good deal,” Judy commented.

 

“Yeah, well, lyin’ no-good crooked copper said I wouldn’t be bothered by any of the blues. But here you are,” he said, gesturing at the two of them.

 

“We’ll make good on his deal,” Judy said. “Just tell us about the chlorine.”

 

“The pool stuff?” he said with an eyebrow raised. “That ain’t drugs or anything, I just got it at Harry’s.”

 

“You bought chlorine at the hardware store and sold it like drugs?” Fangmeyer asked, a little skeptically.

 

“Hey, I don’t ask questions when my customers are payin’ good money. Charged the cat nearly double what I paid for it, but he didn’t seem to mind none.”

 

“That’s what we’re curious about, Willie. Whom did you sell it to?” Judy asked.

 

“A cat named Terrence. Terrence something-or-other. Last name ends in ‘berg’, I think. Real bookworm nerdy type. Pretty sure he was a doctor or something,” Willie disclosed.

 

“What makes you say that?” Fangmeyer asked.

 

“He gave me this list of chemicals that would have worked if I couldn’t get the chlorine he wanted. There were these crazy-long words that all ended in ‘ide’ that I couldn’t make heads or tails of. I just went to the store and found a brand of pool cleaner where the ingredients matched the words on the list.”

 

“Did you ask why he came to you instead of getting it himself?” Judy questioned.

 

“Sure, at first. He offered more money so I shut up about it. My guess is he didn’t want his face on cameras anywhere.”

 

“Why’s that?” Judy asked.

 

“He kept his hood up, lookin’ real shady and makin’ sure no one saw us talking. I can tell a new customer when I see one. The regulars know that it’s much less suspicious if you’re relaxed about the buy. The new ones are always nervous about gettin’ caught, which makes ‘em look super twitchy, and this guy looked like he never even jaywalked before.”

 

“Can you describe him for me?” Judy requested as she pulled out her notepad, jotting things down.

 

“He’s a pred, but not one I’ve seen before. Brown fur with spots, and super-wide eyes,” Willie said, pointing to his own eyes to illustrate his point.

 

“You called him a cat. So he’s a feline?” Fangmeyer asked.

 

“Kinda, but not like you. He’s smaller, but not young. He’s probably middle-aged, I’d guess.”

 

Gears began turning in Judy’s head as she worked together what Willie was telling her. A smaller feline with brown-spotted fur, middle-aged and nervous-looking. Her paw reached into her pocket and pulled out the photo Agent Savage left her.

 

“Was it an ocelot?” Judy asked with mounting excitement.

 

A look of confusion appeared on Willie’s face. “A what now?”

 

Judy looked at the photo in her paw, making sure to cover up Nick’s face with her thumb before showing it to the dik-dik.

 

“The mammal driving the van, is this him?”

 

Willie squinted and looked at the photo in her paw. He first noticed the large, aggressive mountain lion. His eyes then drifted to the ocelot driving the van, and his eyes widened.

“Yeah! That’s him. I’d recognize that nervous twitchy cat any day. Who’s the bigger cat with him?” he asked.

 

“Bad news, that’s who,” Judy muttered before shooting Fangmeyer a glance. The tigress wore a dark expression and glared back at her.

 

“Thank you Willie,” Judy gratefully said as she turned to leave.

 

“Yeah, whatever. Next time you wanna shake me down, talk to the fox-cop first ok? We have a deal,” Willie shouted confidently.

 

This made Fangmeyer stop and turn. Willie’s confident expression immediately soured as he nervously watched as the large predator got down onto one knee and glared at him at eye-level.

 

“Let me make one thing clear to you,” she nearly whispered. Willie could feel her breath on his fur. “If you ever sell your merch to kids, I’ll know. And if that happens, you’ll wish the fox had brought you in instead of me.” Willie swallowed, practically quivering as Fangmeyer’s feline eyes leered holes into his soul.

 

“You’re the boss!” he declared with a salute before scampering off down the alley with his tail tucked firmly between his legs. Fangmeyer continued to frown and scoff as she emerged from the alley beside Judy.

 

Judy was preoccupied with the photo in her paw. She had observed it endlessly since she got it. She looked for any other signs or clues that Nick might have left her. This time, she analyzed the ocelot driving the van. His eyes were sharp and focused, full of nerves but not of apprehension. He had the look of a mammal not afraid to get caught, but rather afraid to fail.

 

“This isn’t looking good,” Fangmeyer grumbled with a dissatisfied shake of her head.

 

“What do you mean? This is a huge lead for us. We now know this cat’s name before Savage does,” Judy said assuredly.

 

“I mean for Wilde,” Fangmeyer clarified. “Making deals with drug-runners for info is hardly ‘by-the-book’.”

 

“True, but that’s nothing new. His contacts in the underground have led to some of our biggest busts, so as long as they deliver, the Chief adopts a ‘don’t ask don’t tell’ policy and Internal Affairs never inquires into anything,” Judy explained.

 

“I know, but even if that was nothing but rainbows and sunshine, which it’s not, Nick is in real trouble here. If what we suspect about this ‘Terrence’ guy is true, then Nick has made an on-the-books deal with a known drug dealer who is supplying chemicals to a _bomb maker._ ” Fangmeyer hissed the last part to drive the severity of the situation home.

 

Judy walked a little slower. For the first time, she was hoping that the evidence that led her to Nick was not very solid. If Nick was to be prosecuted once this was all over, the more evidence against him hurt his chances of coming back home to her. She sighed, reminding herself that Nick must have thought this through. Besides, she was not about to let Internal Affairs keep Nick from her.

 

“We’ll find a way to deal with that when we get there. Right now, all that matters is finding Nick and stopping those bombs from going off,” Judy said confidently.

 

Judy’s phone began buzzing and playing a familiar marimba tune from her side pocket. She quickly pulled it out and answered.

 

“Hello?”

 

“Officer Hopps, it’s Remi,” a small voice squeaked at her. “I have results in from the fur sample you gave me yesterday.”

 

“Yes?” she said excitedly.

 

“Yes, sorry I can’t give you much to go on. All I can say definitively is that the fur is from a _Leopardus Pardalis_ , commonly known as an ocelot,” Remi stated.

 

“I see. And you are certain that was the species?” Judy asked.

 

“Yes. If I had more fur, I could cross-reference the sample with our records to see if we ever arrested this particular mammal. Then we would know for sure who it was.”

 

“That’s alright, Remi. I think we know who we’re looking for now anyway. Thanks so much for your help,” Judy replied with a sigh.

 

“Anytime, Officer.”

 

Judy hung up and placed her phone back into her pocket, not bothering looking up at Fangmeyer. She really did not want to see the look of sympathy that would be on the tiger’s face. She simply soldiered on towards the cruiser with Fangmeyer in tow.

 

“I need to give Francine a call,” Judy muttered. “She’ll need to find us a bomb-maker named ‘Terrence’.”

 

 


	6. Dr. Wiskberg

Judy and Fangmeyer were the second group to arrive at Flake’s that day for ‘lunch’. When they arrived, Pops simply nodded his head towards the back corridor and Judy and Fangmeyer made their way to the back room. When they walked in, Clawhauser and Francine were both discussing something over a box of bear claws.

“Hey!” Clawhauser greeted them. “Any good news?”

“We have a new lead, but I’d rather wait till Wolford gets here. Any word from him?” Judy asked.

“He said he was on his way not too long ago. The feds must be done with him and Grizzoli if they’re letting them just wander off for lunch,” Francine commented.

“That’s good,” Fangmeyer said. “If they’re done, that means they’ve found something. 

“In the meantime, Clawhauser, why don’t you tell me what the chief has been up to?” Judy asked.

“Well, at first nothing. Perhaps he was expecting you to need a moment before breathing down your neck, all things considered. But this morning he came by asking for a report on all your activities from yesterday,” he recalled.

“What did you tell him?” Judy  asked.

“Funny thing was, I didn’t have to lie at all! Yesterday morning you were out on patrols and bumped into an old friend before coming to get lunch with me here. Then, you went back to the station before partnering up with Sir-Howls-A-Lot for afternoon patrol. He knows the rest from the Spitz report. On paper, you have been the vigilant busybody you’ve always been!” he said happily.

“Huh, we’re lucky that our leads haven’t taken us away from patrol duty,” Fangmeyer noticed.

“Chief is not an idiot,” Judy said. “He’ll assume I’m investigating Nick’s whereabouts one way or another. If he’s turning a blind eye or waiting for me to slip up, I’m not sure. But when I have real evidence to go on, more than just whispers, I’ll be required to report that. If the chief finds me withholding evidence, especially from a case like this, I’ll be badgeless.”

“This case is as time-sensitive as it gets,” Fangmeyer said. “If you get evidence and act on it immediately, you could tell the chief that there was no time to call it in. If he’s on your side with this, he’ll take that with no questions asked.”

“So it all depends on if he’s on my side, or the ZBI’s,” Judy clarified. She took a seat on a crate of napkins and plastic cutlery, rubbing her brow thoughtfully. 

“Have a little faith,” Clawhauser said. “Chief might be forced to play by the rules with the ZBI, but he’s always stood by his officers in the past.”

Fangmeyer nodded in agreement, along with Francine. They were right, after all. Judy’s first case was certainly a bad example of the chief’s devotion to his officers. But ever since that case, he treated her with the respect and dignity he offered everyone else at the precinct. Given the opportunity, he would stick his own neck out for any of his officers, and Judy believed that included her as well.

“Mmmm, smells like conspiracy and bear claws!” Wolford said, peeking his snout through the door. 

“Wolford, come inside before you start running your mouth,” Fangmeyer scolded. Wolford shrugged her off and eagerly made his way to Clawhauser, who handed him a frosting-drizzled pastry. The room quickly grew quiet as all eyes fell on Judy, waiting for her to start the impromptu strategy meeting.

“Where the ZBI are in their investigation might change the plan, so Wolford, you’re up first. What did they have you do this morning?” she inquired.

“Hmph,” he grunted as he swallowed a chunk of the treat and licked his fingers of icing. “Well, can’t say where they got the lead from, but they found the van in your photo.”

“They did?” Judy asked.

“Yeah. It was abandoned outside a warehouse at the docks. They spent last night with bomb-bots making sure there were no devices attached. They had me and Grizzoli sniff the thing top to bottom,” Wolford said, gesturing to his nose.

“And what did you find?” Fangmeyer followed up.

“Well, the good news is that I have Pumar’s scent now,” Wolford explained. “He’s a foreigner and still smells of Griño, so he’ll be easier to track. The other guy in the photo was hardly there at all, the ocelot.”

“And Nick?” Judy asked.

“That’s the bad news. He was definitely there, and he picked a spot to ditch the van out of sight from the traffic cameras near the water where their scent was impossible to track afterwards. License plate check was blank, so he might have tampered with DMV registration records. Pretty sure Agent Maple is looking into that now,” he said with a frown.

Judy frowned as well. It was troubling that Nick would go so far as to tamper with government records like that, even if he used his connections at the DMV to do it. What was worse was that if he left any clues for her to find at the van, they would be picked up by the ZBI first. Then again, these were all things he did with Pumar present, so perhaps he felt like he needed to prove his value to a dangerous criminal.  _ Trust _ , he would say,  _ is what makes a con possible _ . 

“What about Savage?” Judy asked.

“No idea. He took Agent Stockbreed or whatever somewhere else, didn’t mention where,” Wolford shrugged. 

“Brocktree,” Clawhauser corrected. “Wherever he went, he left the chief pretty cross with him. I tried to probe the chief for more, but he was in no mood.” 

“That’s ok. If his lead was more solid, he would have taken his whole entourage with him. Fangmeyer and I caught up with a new informant named Willie who sold our mystery boss some chemicals. He’s an ocelot by the name of Terrence, unsure about the last name. Francine, could you dig up anything on him?” Judy asked, turning to the elephant in the room. Officer Pennington nodded hesitantly and pulled a small folder from her pocket. It looked like she printed it out specifically for Judy to read. 

“I did, but you’re not going to like it,” she started. She held the folder in her trunk and extended it to Judy, who took it carefully and scanned through the first page. Her eyes shot open immediately as her eyes glanced over the case file name. 

“The Nighthowler case?” she asked, astonished. 

“No way,” Wolford gasped. 

“Not just the case, Max. I couldn’t find anything on this guy at first, not even parking tickets. I thought he didn’t exist or that we had the wrong mammal, but there’s only one ocelot named Terrence in the census. But then I found that we had him logged as a key witness during the Nighthowler case,” Francine explained. 

“Key witness?” Clawhauser asked. 

She looked up at Fangmeyer with a solemn look on her face. There were elements of her first case that came back to haunt her, from time to time. At first, it was the notoriety. Her press conference and subsequent bust of the mayor garnered plenty of attention, not all of which was pleasant. But that subsided eventually. There were other occasions when a predator would treat her poorly, citing her prejudice as the root of species tensions in the city. This, however, would be the first time that case put more lives in danger. 

“You’re right Francine, this is bad,” Judy said coldly.  “He was one of the mammals that went savage.” 

“Shit,” Wolford cursed. Clawhauser put a paw over his mouth and stopped chewing for a moment. 

“It gets worse,” Francine said. “Before he went savage, he was a professor at ZU with a Ph.D. in biochemistry. He attacked one of the students and mauled a pig’s leg pretty badly. He lost his job as a result.” 

“The college probably didn’t want to be seen as harboring violent teachers. Can you imagine passing out one day, then weeks later, you wake up and you’re fired?” Fangmeyer said with a scoff. 

“If he tried to get hired elsewhere afterwards, it didn’t work. He didn’t file taxes last year. His driver’s license expired and he never renewed. His last known address is now vacant. The only current information I could find on him was his full name and his ex-wife’s address,” Francine explained.

“Ex-wife _? _ ” Wolford cringed. Francine slowly nodded with a dark expression on her face. 

“Read that on a pred-rights website. They separated less than a year after the Nighthowler case. She won full custody of their son easily, arguing that a violent male could not be trusted around a child.”

Judy saw Wolford grip the cardboard box he was sitting on so tightly that his claws punctured the side. He grunted and his lip quivered in a vile anger that Judy witnessed only once before, when a mammal threatened his mother. 

“That disloyal . . .” he started. 

“Max,” Fangmeyer soothed her coworker with a paw to his shoulder. He took a deep breath and relaxed his paws from their vice grip, continuing to scowl at the folder in Judy’s paws. 

It was much more common that mothers won in custody battles, but it happened more so in predator families. It was easier to convince a jury that a male was a danger to the child when he had fangs and claws, even if the mother had them too. It was one of the few pred-rights subjects that received little activist attention. After all, who would dare rip children away from their mothers?

“An address is enough for now. Fangmeyer and I will head over there to see what we can find out about Dr. Terrence Wiskberg from his ex-wife,” Judy read aloud from her file. “Great work, Francine. See if you can find any more information about his whereabouts, or something to tie him to Pumar from the past few months. Wolford, head back to the station and see if the ZBI needs you again. If they do, keep an eye out for anything Nick might have left us. Clawhauser? I need to know as soon as Agent Savage is back at the precinct. Any questions?”

There weren’t any questions. Clawhauser smiled and gave a short salute, nodding towards Judy as she went around the room making eye contact with everyone present. Once she was confident that everyone was set to go, she bid them good luck and headed out with Fangmeyer once again. 

The cruiser roamed past the brilliant skyscrapers in downtown towards the more ritzy parts of town. The closer to the action the neighborhood was, the higher the rent prices tended to get. There were, of course, more affordable options not too far from city center. Judy and Nick lived in a good example of just that. What her apartment lacked in space or luxuries it made up for in location, so the rent was still pretty high. 

This neighborhood, colloquially known as Savannah Heights, had both location and flair. The houses were townhomes that were at least four stories high with large windows and clean sidewalks. The cars were nicer, and the shops and restaurants were more expensive. The neighborhood was not as wealthy as the heart of downtown, which was reserved for the CEOs and famous newscasters, but it was certainly out of Judy’s price range.

“Up here,” Judy said, pointing to a vacant parking spot. Fangmeyer pulled in and looked at the stoop of the address in question. 

“Nice place,” Fangmeyer noted as she stepped out of the cruiser. A pack of gazelles wearing nice clothes and jewlery passed by as Judy placed a few coins in the meter. 

“Must be nice not having to be at work during the day,” Judy murmured under her breath. 

“I’m sure they’re gearing up for the night shift later,” Fangmeyer jested, which made Judy smile a little. The house was a nice example of the neighborhood with faded brick and a stone-lined stoop. Judy easily hopped up each step and gave the doorbell a ring. At first, no one came to the door. She looked at Fangmeyer, who shrugged before giving the bell another ring. 

“Coming!” Judy heard someone sing from inside. A few moments later, a smartly dressed ocelot with gorgeously maintained fur and a golden bracelet answered the door. The first thing Judy noticed was her age, which was likely around her own. Her wide, rehearsed smile vanished as she noticed Fangmeyer.

“Ugh,” she groaned. “Has that boy done something? I swear if he’s in deep, I’m not posting any bail money.”

“No ma’am, we’re not here about your son. We’d like to ask you a few questions about your ex-husband, Dr. Wiskberg,” Judy said. The female ocelot’s eyes drifted down in surprise at Judy’s voice and a toothy smile returned to her face as she regarded her. 

“Well aren’t you just the cutest thing in the world!” she exclaimed with a paw to her cheek. 

Judy swallowed a groan at her high-pitched nasally tone and kept herself in check. Being a bunny in the burrows meant getting called cute was few and far between. But no matter how often she insisted, strangers would still call her cute in the most patronizing way from time to time. Often they just didn’t realize what they were saying, so Judy adopted a two-strike policy, only voicing her discomfort if they persisted. This particular mammal, however, was likely going to persist regardless of what Judy said. Sometimes, to get the job done, she had to bite the bullet. 

“Please, if it’s not too much trouble, can we come in?” Judy asked patiently.

“Why, of course! Come on in,” the ocelot said as she happily waved the both of them in. Judy made her way inside, Fangmeyer ducking below the entryway and into the front hallway with only a little effort on her part. The kitchen was groomed to perfection, as if the maid fairies had just finished, which Judy expected they might have. 

“Please, call me Chelsey. What can I do for you two officers?” she asked pleasantly.

“We’d like to ask you a few things about your ex-husband,” Judy repeated. 

“Hmmm. Jules?” Chelsey asked. 

Judy blinked, then shook her head in confusion. It took her a brief moment to realize that by ex-husband, Chelsey was unsure of which one Judy meant. She felt the soft tug of judgement creep into her head. It was the same part of her that assumed that predators who went savage did so because of ‘biology’, so she did her best not to let that part win.

“No, we mean Dr. Wiskberg,” she clarified. 

“Oh, Terry,” Chelsey said with a frown. “I swear, that Nighthowler thing was, like, a gift from heaven.”

“What do you mean by that?” Fangmeyer asked, carefully masking any surprise by Chelsey’s statement. 

“Well, Terrence was a nice guy and all, and he took care of me well enough, but he wasn’t  _ Mr. Right _ , you know? He was always talking about fancy science stuff that I don’t care about, and whenever he got worried he’d get this super sketchy look on his face. I was worried about how I was gonna make my break when one day, viola!” she said as she gestured to herself, or her kitchen, or the world at large with another cheeky smile on her face. “No more Terry. He mauled that pig up so bad that lawyers were practically lining up at the door to handle my divorce.”

Judy really did need to keep herself from groaning this time. Her flippant disregard for her husband’s well-being and borderline sadism left a horrible taste in her mouth. Judy hated arriving at conclusions before hearing the whole story, but no matter how badly she wanted to avoid being judgemental, it did not take a detective to understand that she married for money. She could not imagine that Dr. Wiskberg married her for much more than her looks. Their age difference was enough to raise eyebrows.

“Do you know where he is now?” Judy managed to ask.

“Not a clue in the world,” Chelsey said with a wave of her paw. “Don’t you cops have, like, records for that?”

“His file returned a vacant apartment in the Meadows under last-known-address,” Fangmeyer said. 

“Hmph. I bet he’s a bum by now. That might explain why the alimony checks stopped coming in. I sent some lawyer to serve a subpoena on my missing funds, but apparently you can’t do that to unemployed guys after a certain time period. Deer-scat, I bet he had more,” she pondered.

“He was still unemployed after you divorced?” Judy asked, now approaching disgust. 

“Hm? Oh yeah, no one would hire him when they found out he went nuts! When I think about what those sheep did those years ago, I just thank heavens that was not me.”

“I’m sure,” Fangmeyer mumbled. 

“When was the last you heard from him?” Judy followed up. 

“About three weeks ago. He called to arrange a trip so that our son Gregory could go visit his grandparents out of town,” Chelsey said.

“Is that where he is now?” Judy asked.

“Mmhmm,” she answered with a happy nod. “I got the next week all to myself! I’m taking the girls out dancing tonight, then I’ve got a new mister-mister takin’ me to the opera this weekend!” 

“If he’s homeless, how could he afford to send his son out of town?” Fangmeyer asked.

“What do I look like, an accountant?” Chelsey asked with a nearly insulted tone.

“No,” Fangmeyer responded flatly. 

“Whatever, I don’t know. He offered to have him out for this week and I’m not one to ask.”

“Did he seem extra pushy? Like he wanted his son out of town this week and not later?” Judy asked.

“I guess? I mean, he kind of popped up out of nowhere and made sure Greg had everything he needed to get to his folks’ place. He even bought the train ticket,” Chelsey remembered with a shrug. 

“Can you tell me when this train was?” Judy asked.

“Sure. It was last Friday after school got out. I’ve been as free as a bird ever since,” Chelsey said proudly. “Can I ask what this is all about? Is Terry in some sort of trouble?”

“He might,” Judy commented, “Don’t worry, your son will be just fine.”

“He didn’t involve me in anything, right? I swear I have no idea what he’s doing,” Chelsey said, suddenly seeming more interested in Judy’s answer rather than her floppy ears. 

“It’s alright, Chelsey. I’m sure you’ll be just fine,” Judy said. She took just the slightest satisfaction at how Chelsey’s nerves continued to twist when she left the question open-ended. With that, Judy closed her notebook and stuffed it back into her pocket, offering a professional smile to her hostess. 

“That will be all. Be sure to call if he makes any contact with you, or if you learn about his whereabouts. That will make this all go much smoother,” she said confidently. 

“Oh, I will Officer!” Chelsey said frantically. “If I had anything more to give you, I would! I’m not above being a rat.”

“Easy, Chelsey, some of our good friends are rats,” Fangmeyer said sternly as she followed Judy towards the door. Judy could hear her furiously apologizing if she made any offense and offered to help ask around or bribe or anything to get her out of something incriminating. Judy simply shrugged her off and made her way back to the cruiser with Fangmeyer in tow. 

“Talk about a motive,” Fangmeyer sighed. 

“Which part? The unemployment, the vagrancy, the divorce, or the ex-wife?” Judy asked. 

“Well, I’d argue that two minutes with a mammal like that could drive anyone psycho. But imagine if you passed out one day and then all of that happened? One day you’re a respected doctor of biochemistry living in a house like that, the next you’re unemployed, divorced, broke, and can’t even see your own son five days out of the week?”

Judy nodded along, taking in just how horrible it all was for Terrence. She heard of mammals that had fallen further, but never from so high and never all at once. All that trauma and change would have most mammals looking for someone to blame. If it were Judy, she would probably blame herself. But another mammal? One who married a female half his age for her looks? Perhaps he ran out of anyone specific to blame, so he blamed everyone. 

“Let’s get back to the station. We need to talk to Francine again,” Judy said as they climbed back into the cruiser. 

“You have an idea of what Terrence is up to?” Fangmeyer asked. 

“If I only had one mammal I cared about in the city, I’d make sure he was out of town before I set bombs off.” 

As it turned out, Agent Savage would have a similar idea. 

 

 

* * *

 

“One moment please!” Vivienne called out after the doorbell rang a second time. She hurried from the kitchen towards the front hallway, her footsteps causing small creaks in the floorboards.  She was quick to give herself a once-over in the mirror, making sure she looked her usual self before undoing the lock on her front door. She did leave the chain in, though. 

“Hello?” she called out, peeking her nose out through the crack in the door. Her eyes immediately found a dapper gray rabbit with stripes on his face, wearing a trim suit and a seemingly indifferent expression. He was accompanied by a badger, also wearing a suit, who scanned the outside of her house with alert eyes.

“Vivienne Wilde?” the rabbit asked her.

“Yes?” she asked hesitantly. 

“My name is Jack Savage, I’m with the ZBI,” he explained. 

“What can I help you with, Mr. Savage?” she said politely. 

“I was hoping I could speak with you about your son, Nicholas?” he asked. Vivienne shot a careful look at the badger behind him, reluctant to answer her question. Agent Savage seemed to take notice. 

“Brocktree, hang back for a moment,” he ordered in a hushed tone. “Is it alright if I come in, ma’am?” 

After another moment of hesitation, Vivienne slowly closed the door and undid the chain before welcoming the rabbit into her home. He closed the door behind him and followed her to the living room. The walls were lined with a green floral-print wallpaper, and a lovely red sofa and armchair awaited them. 

“Can I get you anything?” Vivienne offered. 

“Oh no ma’am, thank you. I’ll only take up a minute of your time,” he said. He took a seat that was a bit too large for him and rested his elbows on his knees, sitting forward. 

“Is Nick alright?” she asked him.

“He’s alive, if that’s what you’re asking,” Agent Savage assured her

She took a deep breath through her nose and closed her eyes for a moment before turning her attention back to her guest. “He is in trouble, isn’t he?” she asked. 

“Why do you say that?” Agent Savage pondered. 

“You’re the ZBI, right? The only reason you knock on a fox’s door is if someone is in trouble,” she said matter-of-factly.

“Well, perhaps I’m here as a background check before offering him a position? He is a police officer after all,” the rabbit defended himself.

Vivienne scoffed. “If you had good news, you would have said so at the door,” she said, motioning her head towards the front entryway. 

“Hmm,” Agent Savage nodded. “You are observant, Mrs. Wilde.” 

“Please don’t drag me on, Mr. Savage. What is happening with my son?” she asked sternly

Savage propped his chin up with his paws and soured his expression, returning her stern look. “We believe he might be involved with a known terrorist,” he said.

“What?” she nearly gasped. “Mr. Savage, my son has far from a clean record, but he has  _ never  _ hurt anyone.”

“I am aware of his history, Mrs. Wilde. I understand he began ditching school at a young age to run scams in town, not long after your husband passed?” Agent Savage inquired with a raised eyebrow. 

“Yes, well, he wasn’t all that well behaved after a bunch of kids began picking on him. When my husband passed away, it hit him pretty hard. But that does not make him a monster,” she argued. 

“Your husband, he died from blood loss after a car accident, correct?” he asked her.

“That was 22 years ago. I fail to see what that has to do with Nick’s current affairs,” Vivienne replied angrily, crossing her arms. 

“I understand that the EMCs at the scene took their time with the sheep in the other vehicle before turning to your husband. The file says the sheep was only treated with a bruised shoulder and a headache, yet they spent 14 minutes on him while your husband was dying. The EMCs were also prey, were they not?”

Vivienne scowled and looked at the floor. It was not something she liked to remember. She could still feel her own rage when a doctor explained to her later that an injured predator was more likely to lash out at emergency personnel, so they were likely afraid to get close. She was not sure which was more insulting: that fear killed her husband, or prejudice. 

“My son is not a murderer,” she said coldly. 

“Ma’am, I just need to know if he had any contact with you recently,” he tried to reason with her, his paws back down on his thighs. 

“He’s my son. Of course he calls me,” she uttered, a fire slowly starting to build in her gut  directed at the mammal sitting across from her. 

“I am aware that he also purchased a plane ticket to Pawaii and a hotel for the rest of the week. Did you know about this as well?” 

“He wanted to treat me to a nice vacation. Is that a crime?” she spat.

“Must have been expensive. I see you did not take him up on it,” Savage said, gesturing to her.

“I volunteer with a mother’s group for predators, helping raise kits. This week is the week we bring in all the members from out of town, and I’m hosting guests so I couldn’t leave,” Vivienne said with another shrug, as if to say his assertion was ludicrous. 

“And when you asked for a different date, he refused and demanded you go  _ this _ week, correct?” Savage asserted. Vivienne did not answer, nor did she need to. Her silence answered his question for him. 

“Mrs. Wilde,” he began softly. “It is not uncommon for violent criminals to try to warn their loved ones about a large-scale attack before the act. I need to know if he contacted you in the last 48 hours, or if you might be able to tell me his whereabouts.”

Vivienne could barely keep from trembling as she shook her head and closed her eyes. Her paws were filled with fistfuls of her dress. 

“He’s lived with a bunny for nearly a year and hasn’t bothered to introduce her yet,” she commented. She continued to shake her head, fighting back tears threatening to find their freedom. 

“Has he contacted you?” Agent Savage repeated himself.

She shook her head harder; this time a tear did streak down her cheek, which she quickly caught and rubbed away. 

“Please leave,” she all but whispered. 

Agent Savage did as his hostess asked and rose from his seat. He offered his apologies and his condolences for her husband before making his way back to the door. 

“If you hear anything from him, please let me know,” Savage requested, pulling out a business card and placing it on the table by the door. Vivienne followed him out, opening the door for him more out of reflex than anything else. Years of being a welcoming host ingrained politeness into her bones, even when she did not care for her guest’s well-being, apparently. 

“Thank you for your time,” he said graciously before heading down her stoop, taking his coworker with him. 

Vivienne didn’t respond. She slowly closed the door and held her paw against the doorknob for what could have been ages. She rested her head against the door, closing her eyes and wishing the truth away as if it were all a dream. There were moments when she was gripping the door with all her might, and others where she barely hung onto it at all. Her ears stayed down, and her entire body remained motionless. After a few silent minutes went by, she finally heard the shuffling of floorboards from behind her. 

“Is any of that true?” she muttered, keeping her head against the door. She could hear him breathe, but he did not speak. He always had something to say to wiggle his way out of things. Why of all times would he choose now to be timid?

“Mother . . .” Nick said solemnly. 

“Is  _ any  _ of what that rabbit said true?” she said a bit louder, turning to face him. His ears were down as well, and his eyes were filled with melancholy. He was holding a boarding pass in his paw with her name on it, holding it out towards her. He didn’t answer her question, and it sank daggers into her gut. 

“Mother, please,” he said, a hint of desperation in his voice as he gestured to the ticket in his hand. She furrowed her brow and scowled at him fiercely before stepping to the side and pointing to the door. 

“Get out of my house,” Vivienne breathed. Nick’s face contorted in a way that precious few had actually witnessed before. She watched him silently make his way to the door and open it, not daring to look her in the eye any longer. He simply placed the ticket on the table, put on his father’s hat, and he was gone.


	7. Sorry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special Thanks to beta-readers DrummerMax and YFWE for somehow getting this in despite me being so late.

"Fast forward a little bit," Judy told her co-worker as they both peered at the monitor. "She said it was after school, so probably around 3:30."

Judy and Fangmeyer had hurried back to the precinct after questioning the former Mrs. Terrence Wiskberg. Judy wasted no time finding Francine, and the two of them began digging through the surveillance camera footage at the train station. Fangmeyer had split up from them to avoid being seen in the precinct as a group. Judy asked Clawhauser to keep a sharp eye on Bogo's desk to make sure they would know if he left his office, on the off chance that he stumbled across the two of them conducting public espionage.

"We're looking for two ocelots, right?" Francine asked.

"Yes, mother and child. She'll probably be wearing something fancy since it was a Friday afternoon," Judy said. While she did not share Chelsey's taste in fashion and couture, it would make it easier to spot her in a crowd. That was the whole idea of expensive clothing, after all.

"Try the other platform," Judy said, scratching her chin. Francine tapped the keyboard and the screen flashed to the next camera over, showing tracks three and four. The platform was packed with wayward mammals heading to and from various places. A few were hugging and greeting loved ones while others were exchanging goodbyes.

"A little further forward," Judy suggested, and they forwarded the footage by ten minutes. A new train was at the station boarding, and Judy finally caught what they were after.

"There!" she said, pointing to the spot where an ocelot was holding her son's paw in one hand and her smartphone in the other. "Ok, hit play."

Francine tapped the keys again and they both watched as the seemingly preoccupied mother guided her son towards the train. She took one glance up, confirming the train, track number, and timing before kneeling down to her son's level. They talked for a moment, likely going over what he needed to do once he got on the train. She pointed to her cheek, and her son leaned up onto his tiptoes and gave his mom a quick kiss before heading towards the open doors of the train with his backpack buckled on tight.

"Pause it there," Judy said, and Francine tapped the spacebar with her trunk. "Show me all the cameras in the building at this timestamp."

With a few keystrokes, the screen split up into 12 frames, each containing a frozen image of the crowd at the train station in various locations. The screens were likely a little small for Francine to really see any details, but to Judy, each image was larger than the TV her family shared back at the Burrows. Her eyes quickly darted from one image to the other, scanning each for anything suspicious.

"What are we looking for?" Francine asked sheepishly.

"Terrence bought that ticket for his son. If you were going to set bombs off in a public place, what would you do first?" Judy asked.

"I'd make sure my loved ones were safe," Francine said, nodding.

"Exactly. And since our informants have described him as nervous, I bet you he would need to see it for himself," Judy reasoned, moving on to the next camera. There was also the chance that he trusted his ex-wife to handle the simple job of getting her son on a train, but she doubted Chelsey could be described as reliable. What was more likely, and it pained her to think about it, was that Nick had shown Terrence the same footage she was currently looking at as a way to gain his trust. He did, after all, steal credentials for the traffic cameras.

"Is that him?" Francine asked, pointing to the screen on the bottom right corner with her trunk. Judy focused in on the spot and noticed a predator leaning over the balcony that overlooked both platforms. He was wearing a hooded sweatshirt, which was suspicious on a hot day, but he was faced away from the camera.

"Play it."

Francine hit play and they watched as the hooded figure looked out over the crowd. Chelsey was already on her way out of the station before the train had set off. More passengers continued to wander onto the train as the conductor called the train's destination and departure time.

"Hopps, something's been bugging me about this guy," Francine said as they both watched the scene play out.

"What's that?" Judy asked, not tearing her gaze from the screen.

"This Terrence guy, he bought chlorine from Nick's informant, right?" Francine asked, and Judy nodded. "Well, I was on Zoogle earlier looking at how chlorine bombs are made. They're pretty common for science classes to get kids interested in chemistry, but they are not that explosive. Even with a load of the stuff, it wouldn't be as powerful as the bomb they set off in Griño."

"Yeah," Judy remembered. "That was my reaction as well. My brothers made one when we were kids out of a plastic bottle, and all it did was pop like a small firecracker."

"Granted, it might still be dangerous if they get enough. But if Pumar's buyers are paying big money, then they won't take anything less than C4 or something similar."

"Maybe Nick is planning to con the terrorist organizations with a cheap dud rather than a risky plastic explosive," Judy guessed. Francine certainly had a point, and she doubted even Nick would be bold enough to swindle terrorists with a mammal like Pumar looking over his shoulder. However, her attention at that moment was not on chemistry, but rather the hooded figure on the screen. Even if Terrence was in on the scam, the possibility of blowing up his own son was probably too risky for him to leave to chance.

The train doors finally closed, and a moment later the train began to move. The hooded predator watched the train depart for a few seconds before turning to leave. Judy saw his eyes shift from side to side as he made his way through the crowd.

"That's him!" Judy exclaimed. The face on the screen was definitely the same as the one in the photo she carried in her pocket. He walked with purpose towards the exit of the train station and out of the camera's view. "Follow him."

Francine switched cameras again, and this time they watched as Terrence walked out of the station and towards the pickup area where cars and cabs waited to take mammals into town. He made his way towards the edge of the curb and, as if the timing were synchronized, a black sedan drove up to the curb and the door opened up for him. He got in and the car immediately drove off. Francine switched to another camera as the car made its way through downtown. Judy waited until they could find a good angle to see who else was with Terrence.

"Stop there!" she nearly shouted, looking at the screen with wide eyes. The car was in the middle of a dense intersection, and both occupants were clearly visible. The passenger was Terrence while the driver was Pumar.

"That's our mountain lion," Judy realized.

Victor Pumar looked none too pleased about chauffeuring Terrence around town. His scowl was visible even with the shoddy resolution from the traffic camera. But if Terrence was his supplier, then he could easily strong-arm the wanted terrorist into helping him make sure his son was safe. No Nighthowlers, no bombs, no money.

"Let's see where they went," Francine said, hitting play again.

They continued to follow the car as it snaked its way through downtown and up towards the southern parts of the city. Judy could catch glimpses of Pumar from time to time as they drove along. Something about his glare disturbed her, even though he was simply driving. His eyes were piercing and his paw gripped the steering wheel as if it were holding something of value to him.

It took a moment for her to realize it was disgust she was seeing on his face. Perhaps Terrence was talking his ear off or the car stunk of something fowl, but Judy couldn't help the feeling that Pumar was disgusted by the city he was driving through.

"They're heading to the Docks," Francine noted, leaning forward in her chair. "The cameras are either broken or nonexistent out there. We might lose them soon."

 _Scat_. This was likely no accident. There were plenty of areas of the city not covered by the traffic cameras, but Nick would know exactly where each of those would be. She watched as they took one turn down Iris Boulevard, and Francine tapped the spacebar with a sigh.

"That's as far as we go," she said sadly. Judy was disappointed she could not see more, but there was still plenty to work with from what they found.

"Run the plate," she said confidently as she jotted down the number on her notepad. Francine quickly switched her applications from the traffic cameras to the automotive registry and pulled up a query page. Judy read the plate number aloud and Francine fired the number into the system. They got their answer in seconds.

"Registered black sedan to a John S. Cooper. The address listed is right in that area," Francine stated.

"John S. Cooper," Judy pondered, putting a paw to her chin. There was nothing particularly suspicious about a simple name, but a sedan being registered to a mammal they had not heard about did not sit right with her. "Hmmm. What does the 'S' stand for?"

Francine quickly pulled up the owner's profile and found the full legal name in the corner.

"Slick?" Francine said, raising her eyebrow. Judy's eyes shot open, and she could not fight back a smile as she gazed at the screen.

"That's Nick! He must have pulled some strings to get that car registered in a fake name at the DMV. You're positive the address is in that neighborhood?" she asked Francine frantically.

"It's just a few minutes from where we last spotted the other two on the cams," the elephant confirmed.

"This is it! Nick has led us right to him and he's got Pumar and Terrence in the building!" Judy exclaimed, giving an excited hop before reaching for her phone and dialing Wolford's number. It rang three times, and each felt like an eternity for the bunny.

"Talk to me, Hopps," he said a moment after he picked up.

"Wolford, are you with the ZBI?" she asked quietly.

"No, they relieved me and Grizzoli after lunch," he said.

"Do you have non-lethals on you?"

"Only my tranq and the taser with a few cartridges. No armor or riot gear."

"That'll work. We got a hit on our fox. Meet me and Fangmeyer at the top of Iris Boulevard near the docks. What's your ETA?"

"Uhm . . . I'd say 12 minutes, but 4 minutes if I come with the lights and siren on," he said.

"No sirens, we need to keep them surprised. We'll meet you then."

"Now we're cooking with gas!" Wolford exclaimed, and Judy hung up the phone.

"Keep your radio ready," Judy told Francine as she began to make her way out of the cubicle.

"Wait, shouldn't I go too?" Francine asked, looking around to make sure no one was eavesdropping on them.

"There is still a chance they're not there, so we can't risk having the whole team in one place so the ZBI doesn't get suspicious. Even if they are there, I'm sure we can handle them," Judy replied with a confident smile.

Judy had not felt so gleeful in days. She knew where Nick was, she knew who was with him, and they had no idea she was coming. The best part was that the ZBI was none the wiser. All she needed to do was catch two perps and bring Nick in, which was nothing she could not handle, especially with Wolford and Fangmeyer. The hard part then would be clearing his name, which she hoped he had a plan for. She smirked and furrowed her brow.

 _That fox better have a good reason for this mess_.

* * *

Judy checked then rechecked her belt. She had her tranq on one hip and a police-issued taser on the other. Her cuffs, light, radio, phone, and Kevlar vest were all where they needed to be. Her two teammates stood on either side of her, checking their own equipment by their respective cruisers. Once they were all satisfied that their gear was in order, they huddled around Judy's car.

"We don't know for sure that they're in there," Judy began, "so we can't call for backup until we know they are. Fangmeyer, that'll be your responsibility. Wolford, if we don't see anyone, we'll need your nose to go to work."

"What if they are in there?" Wolford asked.

"Then they won't see us coming. Pumar and Wiskberg should be considered armed and lethal, but it's four on two so we can play this by the books."

"Four?" Fangmeyer asked.

"That's assuming Nick is in there with them. If he's not, don't save your darts. We need them both in cuffs, not necessarily conscious."

"What happened to 'by the book'?" Wolford asked with a skeptical eyebrow.

"Agent Savage said himself that 'by the book' for terrorists means shoot first, ask questions later. Only difference here is we won't be firing bullets," Judy explained. "The door is open so we won't need to breach. Watch the corners and stay sharp. You guys ready?"

Wolford gave his tranq a yank and cocked it back before looking at her with a confident smile and nodding. Fangmeyer also nodded and kept her own weapon holstered. They both tuned their radios to silent and drew their flashlights. Judy nodded back with a determined look and turned on her heel, keeping close to the wall that lined the street corner. She peered around the corner at their target building and quietly assessed her options.

It was an old storage unit house only 3 floors tall. The dry cleaning store on the left side looked closed down, and the store to the other side was available for rent. She doubted there were any entrances from the buildings on either side, and the windows were barred. That left the front door and any exits in the back. Her training taught her that her perps would try to make a run for it out that way, so she would need to close those off first.

The black sedan was parked out front, and the front door swayed ever so slightly in a light breeze. Judy breathed and gripped her tranq in one paw and flashlight in the other. She turned the flashlight on, her coworkers following suit, and stepped forward silently.

They quickly made their way across the block and kept their weapons low. Before long they made it to the door and Judy threw it open. Fangmeyer took point, checking the corners. Wolford was right behind her and immediately began sniffing before Judy followed behind and looked for signs of movement. There was still plenty of sunlight in the lobby of the store, but around one corner towards the back there were neither lights on nor windows, and Judy felt jealous of her predator coworkers who could probably see much more than her.

"Clear," Fangmeyer called out from one hallway in the back.

"Clear," Wolford answered from the lobby.

"Clear," Judy said and turned back to her team. "You catch anything Wolford?"

"Nothing much. I've got some mammal in here I don't recognize, but that could just be the landlord."

"Let's hit the next floor," Judy said quietly before turning a corner towards a large metal door labeled 'stairway'. She kept her ears on a swivel, listening for any signs of movement above them. Fangmeyer grasped the door handle and swung it open. Judy pounced forward with her tranq out and aimed it up the stairs.

They made their way to the next floor, clearing it the same way they did the first. The corridors were lined with large metal doors latched with bolt locks, likely filled with dusty furniture and other assorted junk. Judy's ears stayed at attention as she swept the area.

"Got something," Wolford called out. "Smells like fertilizer."

"Could be a Nighthowler lab," Fangmeyer suggested, "or a gardener who keeps their extra materials in storage."

"Not picking up any Nighthowlers," Wolford said looking to Judy, who nodded back at him.

"Let's clear the third floor," she decided, and they each headed back to the stairwell. As they made their way quietly up to the next floor, Judy's hopes began to fade. She had not heard even the slightest bit of movement, and if there were three other mammals in the building, she would have at least heard them try to hide.

"Clear," Fangmeyer called out from the end of one hallway. Wolford cleared the other end and signaled back.

"Clear," Judy said, a slight twinge of defeat in her voice. She was certain they would have bumped into at least some evidence by now after clearing the building. It was not out of the question to begin searching the storage units, but if they had caught them by surprise, Wolford's nose would have picked up something.

"That car out front was the one you saw on the cams, right?" Wolford asked, keeping his tranq down.

"Yes," Judy replied, her ears beginning to droop.

"Hey," Fangmeyer said reassuringly. "They're not here, and that's ok. We thought that might be the case. We'll tear this place apart until we find something else to go on."

"I know," Judy said, crossing her arms over her chest. A setback did not mean the case was over, and she had plenty to search through before the day was out. She turned and holstered her tranq. "Let's start with the car and work our way up the floors."

Just then, her phone buzzed in her pocket. Judy carefully brought her phone out and eyed the new message from Clawhauser on the screen.

*TURN ON YOUR RADIO* it read.

Judy nearly jumped and fumbled about for the radio on her hip, scrambling to twist the volume knob until it clicked. At first there was a hectic static, drawing the attention of both Wolford and Fangmeyer. After a brief moment of continued static, she heard the uncharacteristically frantic voice of Agent Savage.

"Repeat, all nearby units, respon~~" his voice called out before being lost to static. "Suspect is a fox ~~~ red motorcycle. We believe the fox to be connected with known terrorist Victor Pumar. Suspect was last seen fleeing custody at ~~~ fourth and Oasis."

Judy nearly dropped the radio trying to hitch it back to her hip. Her eyes were wide, and her ears stiff as boards.

"That's Nick!" she cried. "Let's go!"

"Hold on," Fangmeyer exclaimed, but Judy was already halfway down the stairs with Wolford right behind her.

"Hopps!" Wolford shouted, having trouble keeping up with her.

"I'll take my cruiser!" she shouted over her shoulder as she zoomed back across the block to where her cruiser was waiting for her. Her radio continued to call out for backup as their location updated every few seconds.

"He's headed west! Let's cut him off downtown!" Judy said again before leaping into her cruiser and firing the engine up loudly. She mashed on the siren button and her car lit up before tearing down the road. She could see in her rearview mirror her coworkers making their way into their respective cruisers and firing their lights up too.

"This is Officer Hopps! I'm on Iris Boulevard en route to intercept!" she shouted into her radio.

Her car's engine continued to roar as she swept through one intersection after another. Each car in front of her began to slow and pull over for her as her siren continued to wail. Her cruiser darted up each road and screeched around the corners as she made her way back uptown towards Savannah Central.

"Suspect is turning left towards downtown," the radio crackled. "See if you can box him~~."

Judy's paws clenched around the steering column as she sped forward. If she didn't hurry, the ZBI were likely to start shooting soon. Thoughts of seeing Nick's body on the pavement flashed in front of her eyes. She bit down, teeth clenched, and continued to press forward.

The screen on her dashboard highlighted the nearby officers on a map, most of which were making their way towards the scene. She noticed them following a path towards the denser part of town. If Nick was on a motorcycle, he might try to lose them in the traffic.

Soon enough, she zoomed past another intersection into downtown, blipping her siren to warn the oncoming traffic. She finally positioned herself in front of the line of patrol cars heading her way and caught a glimpse of a black SUV with police lights blaring. She turned hard, falling in line behind them as they screamed through downtown.

"Break off, Officer Hopps," a voice ordered on the radio. "See if you can cut him off before he gets to the park."

"Roger that," she responded into her mic before veering off towards the precinct. She could not resist the urge to peek down at what the ZBI cars were chasing, but she could not see anything past them. She hit the brakes hard, rounding a sharp corner before heading back up towards the park that marked the center of Savannah Central. The entire place was littered with various mammals and other vehicles going about their day. Judy cursed as she mounted a curb to get around a line of stopped cars and finally found herself in the middle of the intersection.

"He's cutting back towards the precinct," one officer called.

Judy lowered her window and stuck one ear out. She could hear the squeal of a motorcycle engine roaring in the distance and fast approaching. She blipped her siren again, warning the nearby mammals of her presence, and positioned herself in the busiest intersection, holding traffic in both directions.

"He's in the bike lane. Hopps! Clear a path!" she heard Agent Savage shout. Judy realized halting traffic meant that Nick could weave through the cars, but the larger SUVs were stopped in traffic. She quickly reversed her car and blipped her siren again, prompting a few drivers to nervously back away from her encroaching cruiser.

She heard the motorcycle whizz by, but she could hardly catch a glimpse of it. It nearly barked in protest as the rider screamed past Judy's cruiser. She quickly put her car in gear and followed, this time close enough to see the helmet and bike suit Nick was wearing.

"Get back here!" she yelled, finally looking right at him. Judy realized how angry she was with him in that moment. Innocent lives were put at risk during this chase and he was only making it more difficult for her to clear his name as he ran. She was so close now, and the fire in her belly was raging.

"~~This is Officers Wolford and Fangmeyer. We're coming down towards you now!" Judy heard Wolford say over the radio. She hailed back to box Nick in at the top of the park. Right as Nick rounded a corner towards an exit from the park, both cruisers from Wolford and Fangmeyer screeched sideways to a halt, blocking his exit.

"He's cutting back," Wolford hailed. The bike's back wheel spun, spewing smoke as he re-directed himself back towards Judy. She slammed on the brakes and angled her car off to one side as the ZBI cars began to catch up with her. He was now boxed in, with only the lake to one side and buildings on the other. He didn't stop, instead mounting the curb and using the bike to climb the steps of the Natural History Museum. A few frightened pedestrians jumped out of his way as the motorcycle squealed passed the archway in the entrance.

"We've got him closed in," she heard Agent Savage announce as the black SUVs blared their sirens and mounted the curb, effectively cutting off any exit towards the park. A few agents got out of their cars and began following the motorcycle into the building with their firearms drawn.

"No," Judy whispered as she saw them chase him down with their guns ablazing.

"Wolford!" she barked into her radio. "Back up!"

Judy fired her car back up and began tearing down the street. Wolford was only just fast enough to unblock the road for her as she stormed out of the perimeter and towards midtown.

"Where are you going, Hopps?" Fangmeyer asked.

Judy was afraid to answer. This could be her only opportunity to catch Nick before the ZBI got to him, and she could not risk them catching on. She made her way down the street towards a familiar subway train tunnel that connected to the Natural History Museum. She and Nick actually crashed a train into that tunnel during her first case, and that was something the ZBI would not be aware of. She quickly parked her car at the edge of the street and leapt out of her cruiser.

She peered over the edge of the bridge that ran over the train tunnel. She waited and held her breath, not wanting to miss any sign that Nick was making an escape attempt through the subway line. A few moments went by in agonizing silence as she pleaded to hear something. Nick was smart enough to remember the train station at the base of the museum. He had to be.

Sure enough, Judy caught the sound of a motorcycle engine howling and echoing off the walls of the subway tunnel. The engine was getting louder as he made his way through the tunnel and towards the exit that lead out to a bridge over midtown.

"Okay, okay," she hissed as she steeled herself, gripping the guardrail that kept mammals from doing what she was about to. She positioned herself over the edge of the railing and let go.

Judy fell for a few brief seconds before her legs painfully collided with the wood supporting the train tracks. She looked up just in time to see the headlight of a motorcycle making its way along the track and barreling towards her. Even if he did see her, he was moving much too fast to stop in time.

Judy grunted and kicked hard off of the ground. She leapt into the air and re-positioned her legs to brace for impact. She collided with the visor of his motorcycle helmet hard and her chest groaned as much of the air was forced from her lungs.

"Nick, stop! It's me!" she yelled, hanging onto his helmet strap. She could not see his face through the tinted visor, but she heard him jump in surprise at the smaller animal clutching his helmet and blocking his view. A paw rose up reflexively to sweep her off, but that caused the bike to list to the side and lose balance.

"Nick! Stoooaaaahhh!" Judy cried as they both fell to one side and began to roll painfully on the concrete that lined the side of the bridge. The bike's engine howled again as the wheels came off of the ground and began to roll. The windshield shattered as the bike came down and flipped in the air once before bounding off of the tracks and tumbling over the side of the bridge towards the city streets below.

Judy's elbow and shoulder ached wildly. She groaned as she tried to sit up and assess the damage to her body, thankful she still had all her joints intact. The backside of her vest had taken most of the impact, but she would certainly be feeling that spill for weeks to come.

She got up and peered over the bridge, looking down to where the bike had fallen. She sighed in relief as no one was hurt. The motorcycle lay steaming on the ground with shattered mirrors and an engine that was still idling somehow.

"What were you thinking?!" Judy screamed as she turned to face Nick. But he was gone. Or rather, he was halfway down the wall that lined the street beside the tunnel. He climbed down the ivy that grew along the wall and slowly started to make his way to the street.

"Hey!" Judy shouted and took off after him. She carefully gripped the ivy herself and began to shimmy along the wall. She was a good 30 feet above the street, and while the fall would probably not kill her, she did not fancy falling that far onto concrete. Nick was ahead of her though, and rapidly nearing the bottom. She took a deep breath and let go from the wall for a moment, falling briefly before catching another part of the ivy vines. She prepped and did it again, falling for a moment and catching herself before she fell too fast.

She was gaining on Nick now, but he would be on the ground any second. She performed her maneuver again, but this time the ivy in her paws gave way and ripped out of the brick wall.

"Wooaah!" she exclaimed as she clung tightly to the ivy branch in her paw. The ivy continued to rip away from the wall as small pieces of concrete and plaster dust spewed outwards. She fell farther and cried out for a moment before the last part of the vine caught against the wall and stopped her descent.

Judy had her eyes shut tightly, holding onto the vine with trembling paws. When she finally peeked, she noticed she was dangling a few inches from the ground.

"Oh," she said sheepishly and stepped onto the sidewalk. She looked up just in time to see Nick making his escape away from her and into an alleyway. She sprinted after him, her feet and legs aching after a couple of hard falls. She followed him into the alley and immediately noticed it was a dead end.

 _Finally_ , Judy thought. She had him cornered, so there was no more running from her. She looked down from the brick wall that lined the alley and focused in on the fox in the bike suit, who was trying in vain to reach for a nearby fire escape.

"Nick," Judy sighed as she walked towards him, only to stop once she got closer to her fugitive. Her heart sank in her chest as she looked at the only part of the fox she could actually see. Bike suits covered all extremities to protect against road rash in case of a fall, but they almost never covered the tail, and this fox's tail was white.

Judy drew her tranq and trained it on the motorcyclist that had finally stopped running and turned to face the bunny.

"Who are you?" Judy called out.

The fox raised its paws up to his helmet and undid the strap, pulling off the helmet with a groan. Judy's eyes darted from the helmet to the fox's face. It was a _girl._

"Who are you!?" Judy ordered again menacingly. The female fox looked at Judy with annoyance. She had soft white fur and brilliant blue eyes. She was slim and looked about the same age as herself. She observed Judy with a hard glare before finally offering a shrug.

"Sorry," she said, giving Judy a cocky smile. Judy was about to shout again when the fox hurled her helmet at the officer with all her strength. She sidestepped the massive round garment and pulled her tranq up again. The fox was rushing her at full tilt, and Judy was in no mood to issue warnings.

Judy fired her tranq as the fox approached, aiming for her midsection. Just before the dart made contact, the fox reached over to one side and picked up a lid from a nearby trashcan. She held it up as a shield and the dart collided with the round piece of tin with a clunk. Judy reached up to cock her tranq back and load another dart in, but the fox was upon her.

She leapt back as the fox swept her leg under her feet. Due to the chase, Judy's feet did not move as fast as she needed them to, and she tumbled backwards. The fox took the opportunity and swept the trashcan lid in her paw to the side, catching Judy in the shoulder. The bunny flew to the side and landed against the wall with a hard thud, hissing as her shoulder pounded the bricks painfully.

When she looked up, the vixen was sprinting down the backside of the alley and out towards the street where her motorcycle lay in shambles. Judy took off after her, but her legs groaned again underneath her and she could not keep up.

Eventually, the fox made it to the bike, hoisted it up, and zoomed off, leaving Judy in her exhaust trail.

Judy stood in the center of the street, where multiple mammals watched along with her. She could still hear the faint sounds of a motorcycle engine as the vixen disappeared from view.


	8. Always Judy's

Judy turned her head to the side, following the EMC’s guiding paw on her chin. She winced as disinfectant-soaked cotton swabs dabbed the gash behind her ear. She didn’t realize at the time, but that fall from the bike left a little road rash on the back of her head. Judy did not notice until the adrenaline from the chase began to subside.

 

The squirrel dressed in medics who tended to her wounds finished applying a grey bandage to her head and gave her work a quick double check.

 

“It won’t need stitches, which is good news since we don’t have to shave your fur,” said the medic, who packed away her tools. Judy thanked her luck that she would not be partially bald for the foreseeable future. “I want you to take it easy on your shoulder, though. If it continues to hurt, come in to the clinic at General, we’ll fix you up.”

 

“Thanks,” said Judy, trying her best to sound cheerful.

 

“Anything for our blues,” the medic added and then turned back towards the ambulance that was parked by the front steps of the Natural History Museum.

 

Police tape was drawn around the entrance, and a lingering crowd surveyed the scene, not that there was anything to see anymore. A few mammals were treated for mild scrapes or bruises sustained while clearing a path for the suspect on the motorcycle. Judy herself was likely the most injured mammal after the whole ordeal. Her shoulder ached, especially when she rolled her arm backwards, but no damage was permanent. She was more concerned about the pile of reporters snapping photos of the crime scene.

 

Up to that point, the investigation had been a complete secret from the public. While the greater details of the threat remained under wraps, thank heavens, a dramatic and loud chase in the busiest part of town was sure to catch the press’ attention. Anytime there was an ongoing search, the press would run headlines endlessly until they had more to go on. Before she could investigate out in the open, but now she had to worry about probing questions, since she was the one who watched the suspect ride away. She winced again, thinking about what kind of earful she would get from Chief Bogo.

 

“Not feeling too stricken I hope, Officer Hopps?” a voice asked her. She groaned, not bothering to stand to greet him. She recognized that uppity voice all too well.

 

“Thank you for your concern, Agent Savage,” she said, her voice dripping with disdain.

 

“Haven’t lost your bite, have you?” the striped bunny asked, folding his sunglasses into his coat pocket.

 

“Only my suspect,” she said before leaning her forearms on her knees in a slump.

 

“Yes, I’m aware,” Savage said. “I don’t suppose you have any idea where they went?”

 

“Just check the traffic cameras,” Judy suggested, though she suspected it was fruitless since he was asking her.

 

“We have. Traced the suspect to The Meadows, where they disappeared. The press is aware that the suspect got away and are now on a fox hunt with the description of the rider and vehicle, though it will do little more than make good television.”

 

“I’m not sure what other use I can be to you, Agent Savage,” Judy said with an exhausted shrug.

 

“As of now? You likely won’t be,” he stated coldly. “But knowing about the escape route through the subway would have helped a great deal. That was before you let the suspect disappear.”

 

Judy frowned and furrowed her brow at the goading remark. Agent Savage’s face sported the same vague indifference he usually wore. His paws were in his pockets and his suit was still neatly pressed.

 

“If you came over here to rub my face in failure, you’ll need to wait for me to wash the concrete off of it first,” she fired back at him with contempt.

 

“I know your type, Hopps,” he said, folding his arms over his chest. “I don’t need to rub your face in failure. You’ll likely take care of that for me.”

 

“Then why come over here?” she asked.

 

“Because I’m curious,” he said, and knelt down a little, resting his arms on his knees and looking her in the eye. “Where were you before this whole mess started?”

 

“Investigating a lead,” she replied honestly. “Down by the Docks.”

 

“Did you find anything?” he asked with an eyebrow raised. “Remember who you’re talking to when you answer.”

 

“No. We searched a vacant building and gave up right before I heard you call out for backup.”

 

“Hmm,” he pondered. “From the docks to downtown in less than 90 seconds. I could argue that as reckless.”

 

“Reckless? I jumped off a bridge in front of a speeding motorcycle and you’re commenting on my driving?”

 

Agent Savage relented and stood back up, apparently satisfied with her snark.

 

“I suppose I simply expected more from one of the ZPD’s best and brightest,” he said with a sigh.

 

“And I expected the ZBI to know how to set up a perimeter,” said Judy. “Are you going to tell me who we were chasing today?”

 

“No,” he said, and made a move to leave. Judy rose to her feet and stopped him.

 

“I’ve complied with your interrogations out of professional courtesy, Savage. The least you could do is show a little in return,” she growled.

 

Agent Savage stopped and turned on his heel, facing her with haughty annoyance.

 

“I am well aware of that badge you have on your chest, Officer. But the one I’ve got in my pocket means I get to ask the questions. I decide what you know and when you know it. So you will just have to keep offering your oh-so-gracious ‘professional courtesy’ until I decide you’re ready to know more.”

 

Judy held her back straight and her eyes focused. She was a statue depicting the ideal professional police officer. However, internally she was debating the number of ways she could mop the floor with this pompous rabbit in a physical altercation. She wished she could be like Nick and not care what kind of badge he had in his pocket. He always spoke his mind, and even if it got him into trouble, it seemed satisfying.

 

“Is there anything else I can help you with?” she said through gritted teeth.

 

“Leave the suspect to us, Hopps,” he said, resuming his scowl of disinterest.

 

“Of course,” she said, more as a remark of frustration than a reply to his statement. Agent Savage turned to leave again and waved a paw over his shoulder at her.

 

“Don’t worry, Hopps. We’ll get him soon enough,” he called out.  


“Her,” she answered back.

 

Agent Savage froze. His shoulders softened their slump and his ears perked in the most subtle way. If she weren’t a bunny herself, she might have missed it. He took a moment to continue staring out towards town square, quietly digesting her statement, before facing her again.

 

“I beg your pardon?”

 

“The suspect,” she replied. “It was a vixen. White fur, blue eyes, mid-to-late twenties.” Judy was finally able to take a bit of satisfaction that something she said got to him. She was unsure of whether it was a good idea to share the information with him, as any advantage over Savage’s team was crucial. But in that moment, she enjoyed knowing something he didn’t.

 

After another moment of staring straight at her, Judy expected him to follow up with more questions. But he did not. Instead, he slowly turned and walked away from her again without another word. Judy was left standing on the steps to the Natural History Museum with a look of stark unease on her face. As much as she wanted to see Jack Savage flustered, something about it did not sit right with her.

 

Her phone rang before she could think any further on him. Judy quickly pulled it out and noticed it was Wolford. He and Fangmeyer had gone back to the Docks to take another look at the car outside the storage building they raided earlier that day.

 

“Did you find anything?” Judy said as soon as she answered.

 

“The car’s gone.”

 

“What?!” she barked into her phone.

 

“Yeah, Fangmeyer and I showed up a minute ago and it vanished. The storage unit is no different either. All I could pick up with my nose is a mammal I don’t recognize, fertilizer, and a damp rag on the floor.”

 

“Do you think they could have been close by and took advantage of how quickly we got out of there?”

 

“Could be. My guess is that they have a close watch on the traffic cameras and got spooked when we came into this part of town. In any case, we’re down a lead. Should we put out an amber alert for the car?” Wolford asked.

 

“No,” Judy said with a sigh. “We can’t do that without asking the chief first, and the ZBI would certainly know what we’re up to then.”

 

“So what’s the play?” he asked.

 

“The fertilizer and the new mammal might be important, so stay there and see what else you can find,” she said, making sure she was out of earshot from any ZBI agents at the scene.

 

“Gotcha,” he said confidently. Judy frowned, then quickly raised her phone back up to her ear.

 

“Wait, wait! Wolford?” she bumbled.

 

“What’s up?”

 

“The rag, you said it was damp?”

 

“Yes?” he said, seeming a little unsure of what she meant by it. “I already gave it a good sniff. Nothing odd about it.”

 

“Is it dirty? What does it smell like?” she asked quickly. A moment of silence went by as Wolford presumably gave the rag in question another good sniff.

 

“Doesn’t smell like soap or any chemicals. Just some dirt and a little tree pollen, like someone used it to wipe down a countertop or window.” Judy could hear the confusion in his voice so clearly she could practically see him waving the cloth around in frustration.

 

“Ok. Is there a kitchen in the storage house?” she asked.

 

“Hmm. Hold on,” he said, the phone going silent. She was in and out of that unit so quickly that she could not recall seeing one herself. In the back of her mind, a voice told her she was getting desperate, hoping to find a clue out of a rag. The other voice told her that even the most mundane detail has a story behind it.

 

“Huh,” Wolford said after another moment. “No kitchen, but I just tried the sink in the bathroom.”

 

“And?”

 

“Nothing! I doubt there is even water in the toilet, though I’m far too scared to open that thing up to check.”

 

“Then where did the water on the rag come from?” Judy wondered.  “You said it smells like someone wiped off the window with it?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Could they have wiped off a car instead?” she asked. Judy was pacing now, walking in tight loops and recursively asking questions like an eager journalist.

 

“That would explain the pollen smell. Hopps, there are black marks on one side in straight lines like they used it to dry off the windshield wipers,” Wolford realized. “They definitely used this on a car.”

 

Judy stopped her pacing and looked out over the city. From the center of town, one could see down the lengths of the avenues that connected all the separate districts with Savannah Central as the heart of the city. Judy was looking straight down Amazon Avenue that led northwest.

 

“How does a car get wet?” she asked rhetorically.

 

“Rain,” Wolford followed along.

 

“And where is the only place it has rained in the past week?” Judy was looking at the answer from across town, where Amazon Avenue vanished into the thick undergrowth of giant trees and winding roads.

 

“The Rainforest District,” Wolford confirmed. “Hopps, that part of town is overflowing with traffic cameras!”

 

“Which means I am headed back to the precinct to start checking them. We have a time window and a license plate, so that’s all we’ll need.”

 

“Shit, Hopps, remind me never to try to hide something from you.”

  
Judy actually laughed and bid her coworker goodbye. With a few more swipes of her phone, she ordered a delivery of kale and beet salad, and a large fig and root bowl for Francine. They would need their spirits if they were going to watch cam footage for the rest of the night.

 

 

* * *

 

 

“Thanks so much for dinner, Judy!” Francine said cheerfully from her cubicle. Judy commandeered the cubicle beside her so they could search as a team. She needed to bring her smaller keyboard and mouse along with her, otherwise she would be dancing on the keys with her feet. Francine’s upbeat attitude was a welcome change of company from the conversation she had with Agent Savage several hours earlier.

 

The night dragged on with no luck thus far. The canopy in the Rainforest District was positively _lousy_ with cameras. One would think that would be the last place Nick would decide to establish an emergency HQ. But in this case, the cameras were a double-edged sword. Even if they could find where the bad guys were hiding, they had access to the same camera network she did. If the police mobilized and stormed the place, they would be long gone by the time they got there.

 

At that moment, however, Judy would have been grateful to catch a single car just to save her from staring at her computer screen any longer. The black sedan they were after was so mundane it blended in all too well with the city traffic. The slightest loss of focus might mean she’d miss it. There were many entrance roads into the Rainforest District, and they had to watch each for a one-hour window. Even if Francine's help made it half the time, they still had twelve more cameras to check between them, and it was already very late.

 

“How about some coffee?” Judy asked as she tapped the pause button.

 

“We’ll need it,” Francine admitted, “but not quite yet. I don’t want to burn out before midnight.”

 

“Thanks for helping me with this, Francine,” Judy said with a smile.

 

“Oh, don’t mention it. I feel bad I wasn’t able to help out during all the fun this afternoon,” Francine jested, referring to the chase with the mysterious arctic fox.

 

“Fun,” Judy echoed, “is one word for it.” Without thinking, she began rubbing her shoulder gently.

 

“How’s it feel?” Francine asked, noticing her partner nursing her injury.

 

“My shoulder is still angry with me, but my head feels fine. I’m just thankful I won’t have to go bald on one side of my head to get stitches.”

 

“Hey,” Francine said with her arms crossed. “What’s so wrong with not having any fur?” That made Judy snicker. Her laughs soon bubbled louder as she began leaning over her knees and supporting herself. The joke was only mildly funny, but Judy’s laughter was full and genuine. After a few days of constant stress, it was a welcome respite.

 

She finally breathed and looked back up to her coworker, who was smiling down at her.

 

“Sorry,” Judy said after a moment spent collecting herself. “It’s been a long day.”

 

“No worries, Judy. I’m glad your shoulder’s okay. You said it was an arctic fox on the bike?”

 

Judy nodded and turned back to her screen, resuming watching the cars drift in and out of her monitor. “She was good, too.”

 

“Good?”

 

“She was capable. She outmaneuvered me, even when I had the drop on her. Not to mention she’s the only suspect to _ever_ escape custody during a midcity 10-80. I feel like an idiot for ever thinking Nick could ride a motorcycle at all, let alone like that,” Judy confessed.

 

“It’s weird how we haven’t heard about this fox yet,” Francine said. “We know more about Pumar than we do about her.”

 

“What we know about Pumar so far came from Jack Savage, but he’s been unwilling to give me anything more,” Judy grumbled.

 

“Did Agent Savage know anything about the fox?”

 

Judy wondered that as well. She thought back to her conversation with Agent Savage in the interrogation room, after his colleague finished questioning her while strapped to a lie detector. He seemed like he knew everything about the case aside from where the suspects were. He was generous with the information he gave her, but that was likely because he wanted her on his team. Now he was worse than a spiteful sibling on the Hopps farm.

 

“He did seem a little weirded out when I told him about the vixen,” Judy remarked.

 

“I thought I remembered something about a white fox from a while back,” Francine wondered aloud.

 

“We get arrest reports on foxes all the time,” Judy sighed, resting her chin on her paw. “Chances are you saw a white fox or two when you filed them.”

 

“Yeah,” Francine agreed. “I see so many records and reports, it’s hard to keep track.”

 

Judy watched closely as more cars came and went from the tunnel between Sahara Square and the Rainforest District. She could not get the image of that vixen out of her head. Judy was exhausted from the chase and had run as fast as she could to try to catch the suspect. But when the vixen removed her helmet, she looked almost calm and not even out of breath. It was like the act of taking off her helmet was more annoying than being chased by police.

 

Whoever she was, she knew the city and she knew how to move. Most thieves and assailants thought they were ready for a fight, or that they were fast enough to outrun the police. But their vanity was always their downfall, especially when they underestimated Judy. She was always in tip-top shape and ready for anything the city threw at her. This was the first time she ever considered herself outmatched by a crook.

 

Judy shook her head, not daring to feel sorry for herself. That vixen pulled a cheap shot by hurling her helmet at her by surprise. She was not going to get away with a trick like that next time.

 

“Ok, that’s it for this cam. I’m going to stretch for a minute before I start the next one,” Francine said and rose from her seat. Judy felt the ground shudder a bit as the massive elephant placed her feet on the ground.

 

“Ok,” Judy called out as she turned back towards the screen.

 

Truth be told, Judy was spent as well. The previous day could be described as a long one, but today’s antics were beyond exhausting. She found it hard to believe that she chased down a dik-dik with Fangmeyer that same morning. But despite the pull on her eyelids, Judy was happy to be spending time getting slightly closer to finding Nick rather than going home. Her apartment felt foreign to her without him there.

 

Judy sighed as her thoughts drifted to Nick. She was glad he was not shot, but she was furious with him still for putting her and her coworkers through everything. Above all, though, she missed him. There were only a handful of cases she ever tackled without him, and even then she frequently called him up to bounce ideas off of his brain while he was still training at the police academy. His presence was always a reassurance that even when things got difficult, he would be there to help her. Ever since her first case, when Chief Bogo demanded her badge in front of most of the precinct, Nick was there to stand up for her. She had only ever seen the end of her rope a few times, and every time Nick was there to pick her back up.

 

She knew she loved him. She always heard the old phrase ‘you don’t know what you have until it’s gone’ and used it as a mantra for being thankful for the time she spent with him. She knew if they ever separated, it would be difficult for her not having him there. But to actually experience it was something more painful. Mammals talked about heartache all the time, especially in sappy music or romantic films. One thing she was not prepared for was the _nausea._ Thinking about him in danger with two, now three, dangerous criminals on all sides made her sick to her stomach. Thinking about being alone in their shared apartment made it even worse, and no sappy song ever started with ‘I feel like puking’.

 

The timestamp on Judy’s monitor finally pinged and signaled for her to move on to the next camera. She sighed and paused the screen, allowing herself the brief and beautiful moment of rest by propping her head up against the table and laying on her forearms. Fatigue could change even the most harsh of surfaces into the flocculent comfort of a familiar pillow. She worried for a moment that she might fall asleep. Even if she did, Francine would return soon and wake her up. All she needed was a quick breather.

 

Breathing in slowly, then out her nose calmly, unwelcome thoughts of Jack Savage’s tone seemed to flee from her mind as the air eased from her lungs. In again and out again, and the endless fight for details and clues stopped clamoring her brain. In once more and out once more, and the fearful thoughts of missing Nick and bombs going off began to ease their grip on her consciousness. She breathed in one more time, and she was out.

 

* * *

 

 

Chief Bogo stood by the window of his office with his hooves tucked behind his back. The early morning sun was still very yellow as it cascaded through the blinds and across the room. His face did not change expression as his guest waited for a response from him. The cape buffalo sighed, wanting anything but to be police chief in moments like this.

 

“There’s nothing else I can do for her,” the chief admitted.

 

“I know. I’m sorry, David,” his guest said softly. Bogo was grateful to hear his name from a familiar voice again.  

 

“I don’t suppose we’ll get a reason out of her if we asked,” he pondered.

 

“Would you want it, even if she did?”

 

“No,” Bogo said softly. “I suppose not. But I need your best guess. When that little team started up, you promised to keep an eye on them for me. What do you think she was looking for?”

 

“I honestly don’t know, David,” she said. “Up till now, everything was more or less by the book.”

  
Bogo raised a hoof up and lifted one of the blinds. He peered through the opening out towards the parking lot where ZBI agents spat back and forth at each other. They were a group that did not like surprises, something Bogo shared in common with them. When they came into his office minutes earlier, neither party was in good moods.

 

“Things are different now,” Bogo said, turning away from the window. “The public is going to catch onto this investigation sooner or later. If the press learns of an impending bombing, it might spook the attackers into acting faster. We’ll need to find them before that happens.”

 

“And if Wilde continues to run?” she asked.

 

“Then catch him,” he said simply as he sat down at his desk. “He’s dug himself into the biggest hole I’ve ever seen. If we catch him now, perhaps he can use that sly tongue of his to only lose his job. But if he keeps running, we’ll need to assume the worst.”

 

“Please, David, you know that fox well enough to know he’s not a murderer. And he’s certainly not willing to kill for money of all things.”

 

“Hmf,” Bogo grunted. “I thought I knew all my officers before this week. Now I’m not sure what to think anymore.”

 

“David,” she started, folding her arms over her chest. “I know this is different than anything we’ve seen before, but you trust me, don’t you?”

 

“Of course I do, Kanya,” he said firmly.

 

“Well, I trust Hopps, and I also trust Wilde. No bombs are going off in this city on their watch,” she said confidently. “You just need to have a little faith.”

 

“This is more than ‘a little faith’, Kanya. We’re betting the lives of hundreds, if not thousands of innocent mammals, on a fox _not_ being a con artist.”

 

“We’ve worked together for nearly 30 years now, and never once have you questioned the resolve of one of our own. Don’t tell me you’re starting now.”

 

“Ugh,” Bogo groaned again and rubbed his snout with his hoof. He pinched his brow and frowned. “You really believe Wilde is still our own?”

 

“No,” Kanya said and smiled a little. “He was never one of ours. He was always Judy’s.”

 

“What if you’re wrong?” Bogo said sternly.

 

“I’m not.”

 

Chief Bogo sighed and looked over the files on his desk. The ZBI left them for him to peruse, confident he wouldn’t find anything to help his officers out of the mess they’d dug themselves into. The evidence was solid, and Internal Affairs would know soon enough. He looked up to his coworker and friend with regretful eyes.

 

“Keep an eye on Hopps. She won’t take too kindly to what’s about to happen, and if we’re wrong about Wilde, she’ll probably do something stupid like get herself killed,” Bogo ordered.

 

“And the others?” she asked.

 

“They know what they’re getting into. The mistakes they make from here on out are on them.”

 

“Alright,” she said, turning to leave. Bogo watched as his old friend walked just as confidently as she ever did, despite things turning sideways. She was always the one who remained calm when things went south. He never had to remind himself that she was their first choice. It always made sense.

 

“Officer Fangmeyer,” he called out one more time. Kanya stopped and turned to look at her old friend again. He pointed a demanding finger at her and glared, trying his best to earn the stars on his collar.

 

“Catch that fox,” he said sternly.

 

“Yessir,” she said, and left.

  


* * *

 

  


“Hopps. Hey Hopps, wake up,” Wolford said as he lightly nudged Judy’s shoulder. She groaned and slowly opened her eyes, only to wince them shut as the daylight blasted her brain with its unwelcome brightness.

 

“Wolford?” she mumbled as she lifted her head up from her pillow. The crick in her neck reminded her that she spent the night asleep at her desk, and she noticed that her pillow was actually just a pile of papers arranged in a light tan folder that offered little in the way of comfort. She did, however, feel a nice pressure from her shoulders. She noticed a ZPD tundra coat draped over her shoulders like a thick duvet. The extra fabric spilled into the corners of her cubicle. It must have been Francine’s, Judy thought.

 

“What’s going on?” she asked, rubbing one eye. Wolford looked at her with a solemn expression.

 

“Francine has been placed on administrative leave,” Wolford said.

 

“What?” Judy whispered. Her eyes and ears were now at full attention, and any remaining drowsiness fled from her features. “Why?”

 

“I don’t know,” he confessed. “Higgins is escorting her out now.”

 

Judy wasted no time shuffling the warm coat off her shoulders and began running down the hallway towards the lobby. When she got there, she immediately noticed Clawhauser wearing a somber look on his face as well. Officer Higgins walked alongside Francine with a hoof on her back. He gently guided her along towards the exit, where he would drive her home in the back of his cruiser.

 

“Francine!” Judy called out as she leapt beside her elephant friend. “What’s going on?”

 

“Oh,” Francine said with a little jump in her eyebrows. “Hi, Officer Hopps. Sorry, but it’s personal business and I’ll be home for a little while.”

 

“Francine, please, tell me what happened,” Judy argued. Francine did not look down towards her. She simply continued walking under Officer Higgins’ guidance.

 

“Thanks for your concern, Officer Hopps, but you really shouldn’t trouble yourself with me. After all, we’ve never actually worked together,” Francine said with a slight shrug of her shoulders. Judy stopped with a puzzled look on her face as she watched Francine slowly make her way to the doors and out of sight.

 

Administrative leave usually sounded like free vacation to those outside of the department. An officer accused of brutality or excessive force was often placed on administrative leave, which usually got the public upset because they were being let off easy. The truth was that the only difference between being on house arrest and administrative leave was the ankle bracelet that sent the cops coming if you strayed too far. She couldn’t leave her house, she couldn’t communicate with friends or family, and she would stay there until whatever investigations underway were completed. The idea of Francine being punished for anything was ludicrous to Judy.

 

She noticed Chief Bogo standing beside her now, joining her gaze at the doors where Francine vanished into. She turned to the chief and shook her head.

 

“Why, Chief?” was all she could say.

 

“There is nothing I can do, Hopps,” Chief Bogo explained. “The ZBI have evidence of her accessing classified files on their server late last night. They have camera footage in the building of her loading unauthorized documents from one of the ZBI’s computers. We still don’t know what she was looking for, but it’s out of my hands now. Internal Affairs will take it from here.”

 

The ZBI’s temporary office was on the third floor of the building. They set up shop there with all kinds of secure servers and equipment to help them track Pumar. Judy turned and looked upwards towards the third floor offices where the ZBI were stationed.

 

Leaning up against the third-floor railing and looking out over the lobby was Jack Savage. He was wearing the same stoic look of indifference he usually did. His gaze was directed towards Judy, making it very clear that he was watching the scene unfold from his perch.

 

After staring at her for a lingering moment, he gave the railing a satisfied pat and turned away.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My most sincere thanks to my editors for keeping up with me and my late submissions the past few chapters. You're all wonderful to write with.


	9. Spitfire

Breakfast at Flake’s was rushed, and Clawhauser was the only one with any appetite. They did not bother going into the backroom this time. There were not many secrets in the conversation, because the truth was that they were out of ideas. The case was not completely cold yet, but most of their leads drove away with Pumar’s car or on the vixen’s motorcycle. Judy still had plenty of footage to review from the cameras, but if that did not turn anything up soon, they would need to go back to the drawing board.

 

Wolford and Clawhauser decided to help Judy scan the cameras, Clawhauser suggesting no one would notice him staring at a screen since that was how he spent most of his time anyway. Fangmeyer was assigned to help McHorn track down the motorcycle the vixen used, so she would be on the phone with the DMV until the end of time.

 

As Judy walked into the precinct behind Clawhauser and Wolford, she was reminded of how her team was now one member short.

 

“Never thought I’d resent a rabbit so much,” Wolford murmured as they made their way through the lobby. He blinked, looking down at Judy and nervously waving a paw at her. “I don’t mean you, I mean the tiger wannabe upstairs.”

 

“I know,” Judy agreed. “He’s been nothing but trouble for us.”

 

“I have no idea where he got those stripes from,” Clawhauser whispered in his usual rumor-mill tone. “Do you think he paints them on his face every morning?”

 

“It’s probably just pigmentation,” Judy said and hushed her colleague, though she had to admit she had never seen a bunny like him before, and for her that was saying something.

 

Jack Savage was more than annoying, he was a threat. Up until now Judy’s team operated under the assumption that the ZBI was unaware of their activities. But when Francine was placed on administrative leave, she knew Savage was on to her. It was still possible that he simply caught Francine’s hand where it should not have been, but the way he looked at her that morning made it very clear that he was watching. If only Judy knew what Francine was after, she might learn what it was that spooked him so much.

 

“I’ll start with the parkway cams. Those might take a while,” Clawhauser told her as they parted at the lobby. Judy nodded and thanked him for helping. She realized she should be thanking her teammates more often, since it was now much more clear what they were all risking by helping her.

 

“Hopps, where do you want to start?” Wolford asked as they made their way to their desks.

 

“You start with Amazon Avenue, I’ll look at the Meadows,” she instructed, though her spirits were clearly low. It was difficult to rally morale around staring at a computer screen hoping to find gold.

 

“Gotcha,” he said with a salute and made his way to his desk down the hall.

 

Judy sighed as she sat down, her mind drifting from Francine, to Savage, and back to the mysterious vixen. She noticed the large tundra coat Francine had blanketed her with while she slept at her desk. It was now crumpled up on the floor beside her chair. Judy’s heart dove a little at the kind gesture from someone now facing criminal investigation. She dragged the enormous coat into the hallway where she spent a few minutes folding it up. The act reminded her of wrangling a crop-tarp they would use to cover the more fragile vegetables from stormy weather on the Hopps farm. After some effort, she finally placed the folded mass beside Francine’s chair and got back to her desk.

 

She went to type something into her computer, but her keyboard was pushed to the side. Instead, a beige file with a short stack of papers sat in the center of her desk. Judy remembered waking up to find she had used it as a pillow, but the strange thing was that she did not recall seeing it before. Judy’s brow furrowed as she curiously opened the file up.

 

She gasped as the very first thing she noticed was a photo of the very same vixen she had chased through downtown the evening earlier. She was wearing a slim suit jacket and a white blouse, looking much more professional than she did in her bike-suit. Judy also noticed a bright red sticky-note covering details on the vixen.

 

_For Judy_ , it read.

 

“Francine, what did you do?” she whispered and pulled up the note, looking at the file more closely. There was a large red stamp across the front that labeled the document ‘classified’, and Judy was positive that neither she nor Francine had the clearance to see what was in her paws. The responsible thing would be to turn the file in to the chief, but Judy was not going to let Francine’s sacrifice go to waste. She took a deep breath, steeling herself to break the first real law during her hunt for Nick. She would suffer the same fate as Francine or worse if she was caught now.

 

> _______________
> 
> **ZBI Agent Profile**
> 
> _Legal Name: Skylar Elizabeth Frost_
> 
> _Prefered Name: ‘Skye’_
> 
> _Codename: Spitfire_
> 
> _Rank: Special Agent_
> 
> _Current Status:_ **KIA**

 

 

 

“Sweet cheese and crackers,” Judy cursed as she read over the details of the vixen’s profile. “She was _ZBI.”_

 

 

> ___________________________
> 
> _Assignment date: REDACTED_
> 
>  
> 
> _Expertise_ : _Mechanics, high-speed pursuit tactics, paw-to-paw combat, burglary and smuggling._
> 
>  
> 
> _Onboarding notes: Attitude and demeanor suggests unwillingness to cooperate with teammates, recommended solo assignments only._
> 
>  
> 
> _Previous employment: 3 years spent in Zoo York Correctional Facility for attempted burglary before working as a consultant for local law enforcement in exchange for a relaxed sentence._
> 
>  

 

 

 

‘Spitfire’ seemed like an apt codename for the vixen, or rather ‘Agent Frost’ as Judy discovered. She found it astonishing that the ZBI would ever let a former criminal into their ranks. But then again, perhaps some mammal in charge saw potential given her skillset. What was more concerning to Judy at the moment was that her current status was labeled ‘killed in action’. Judy’s still-aching shoulder was evidence that the file was wrong. She skipped forward a few pages and found a section labeled ‘Recent Notes’.

 

 

> _________________________
> 
> _KIA notice:_
> 
> _Operation ‘Catscratch’, September 15th, XXXX. Agent Frost was killed in an automobile fire while on assigned stakeout in Zootopia’s Canal District. Suspected foul play. Agent Frost was tailing suspected sightings of known ‘Dravec’ sympathiser and gun runner Victor Pumar._

 

 

 

 

There was a small photograph included with the description. It displayed the remains of an older sportscar parked beside a vacuum shop. The paint, windows, doors, and everything inside were blackened and burned so all that was left was a black and sickly skeleton of a once beautiful car. Judy was surprised that she did not recall the fire. The fire department was clearly called to stop the blaze, and it must have happened relatively recently. Zootopia’s Canal District was as far away from city center as it got, so it was likely out of her precinct’s jurisdiction.

 

Judy’s eyes drifted into space as she remembered what Francine mentioned the night before. She thought she remembered something about an arctic fox. If there was a reported fatality from a car fire, Francine would have _definitely_ seen that in the incident report. This event must have been what she meant. Francine had gotten up to stretch her legs and Judy fell asleep. Francine must have stumbled across an open ZBI computer and accessed this file before she got caught.

 

Judy stared back at the image of the burned car. She could also make out a street sign in the blurry background, labeled Kapok Street. Judy rose to her feet and quickly made her way down the hall with the file in her paw.

 

“You find something?” Wolford asked, leaning out of his cubicle as she walked by him.

 

“I found . . . I’m not sure yet, but I’m just going to check on something in the canals. Stay here and let me know as soon as you find anything,” she said over her shoulder.

Wolford looked at her with a confused expression before shrugging at her.

 

“You’re the bunny boss,” he said, and got back to his computer screen.

 

As Judy made her way out of the precinct and into her cruiser, she contemplated her decision to keep the others in the dark. There was a chance, however slight, that they might know something about the this car fire. They’d all been a great help thus far. But the file that now rested in the passenger seat of her squad car was illegal for her to even know about, much less to keep hidden from her supervisors. She would not see any more members of her team punished for helping her.

 

Judy’s eyes occasionally shot back to the folder on the passenger seat as she drove down Amazon Ave. Her mind was racing with possibilities now. Yesterday she assumed that there were only three members of Pumar’s gang: himself, Terrence, and Nick. But now she knew about this vixen and where she came from.

 

“Savage knew,” she realized aloud. He must have known about Agent Frost’s roll with Pumar. Perhaps she was investigating Pumar’s whereabouts and was offered an appetizing role in his plan. If she was a double agent and still working with the ZBI, Savage would have caught them by now. Also, Savage seemed shaken when she told him about the vixen. The ZBI had a traitor on their team and now they were trying to cover their tails.

 

“That hateful, condescending, hypocritical, rotten sack of horseradish,” Judy swore. She gripped the steering wheel tightly in her paws and groaned angrily. He had the nerve to tell her she was unfit to investigate the case because of her bias for Nick, while he was just trying to save the ZBI from some embarrassing press.

 

“Easy, Judy,” she said, calming herself down. Thanks to Francine, she was now on an equal playing field with Agent Savage, and she still had a lead towards finding Nick. The remaining members of her team still gave her a much-needed element of surprise as well, and aside from the file sitting beside her, she had not broken any laws or raised any suspicion from the chief.

 

The cruiser finally made its way past the crowded highways that connected each part of the Rainforest District and into the tighter roads that lined the Canal District. This was the area Judy was the least familiar with, only ever passing it when she took the train between the city and her home in the burrows. Every street had a giant tree on one side and a stream of water on the other. The shops were built right into the bark of each tree, and the canals were filled with small watercraft such as kayaks and paddleboards for mammals enjoying themselves on the water.

 

Nick once suggested that a gondola ride along the canals would actually make a nice romantic evening out, but every time he brought it up, Judy argued that they did not have time. How foolish she was to think that paperwork was more important than enjoying the time she had with Nick more fully. If she was lucky enough to see him again, she swore to savor spending time with him like it was the last day on earth.

 

She finally pulled up at the corner where the photograph of the car fire was taken. Any debris or scorch marks from the blaze had been washed away either by rain or by the fire department. She parked her cruiser a few spots away from where Agent Frost’s car was parked when it caught fire. She got out and quietly observed the area for a moment. The parking spot was on the tree side of the street, directly in front of the vacuum shop. The canal on the other side of the street flowed gently southbound. Nothing particularly revealing about the spot, but that was not what she drove there for. She turned and made her way inside the vacuum shop.

 

The bell rang gently as Judy pushed the door open and walked past a few vacuums on display of varying sizes. The biggest one looked large enough to swallow her whole. A friendly-looking whitetail deer behind the counter wearing a pleasant smile watched her stroll in. He donned his glasses and nodded his head towards her.

 

“Good morning, officer,” he greeted her. “If you’re looking for something rabbit-sized, I have a good selection on display on the opposite wall there.”

 

“Good morning!” she answered with a short skip, offering a genuine smile in return. “I’m actually not here to shop, though I might need something more powerful for my apartment soon.”

 

“Let me guess. Messy roommate?” he asked.

 

“You have no idea,” Judy said. “I was hoping I could ask you a few things about a car fire that happened recently in front of this store.”

 

“Oh yeah, that,” he said before shaking his head solemnly. “Just terrible, what happened.”

 

“Did you happen to witness the fire?” Judy asked.

 

“Oh yes, my son and I live upstairs so I saw the whole thing. I woke up to the sounds of screams outside so I peeked out my window and all I see are flames. At first I was nervous that the store had caught fire, so I went into my son’s room to get him out, but his bed was empty.”

 

“Was he hurt?” Judy asked with a paw to her mouth. The deer smiled and shook his head.

 

“He was fine, thank heavens. He stayed late at a friend’s house and ended up biking home. He got a much better look at the fire than I did, actually. He said it started while he was rounding the corner so he saw it from the start,” the deer explained.

 

“Really,” Judy said with her eyebrows raised. “He wouldn’t happen to be here today, would he?”

 

“Well, he hasn’t left for school yet, so he should be down any minute,” the deer said, looking towards the back of the shop where the stairs were. “Can I ask what this is about? I mean, I’m not surprised the police are curious about a car fire, but the event was months ago. Is the case still open?”

 

“It’s just an issue with our files,” Judy said. “We try our best to keep the information where it’s supposed to be, but every so often we see a gap that needs filling.”

 

“I see,” the deer said with a nod. “Good thing you’re on top of it then. I was worried when you walked in that my son might have gotten himself into trouble.”

 

Judy laughed and waved his concerns away. “I’m sorry, sir. I get that from parents all the time, actually.”

 

“I’m sure you’ve found yourself a stray kit or two playing hooky while on the beat. Officer . . .” he said, leaning forward to get a better look at her badge.

 

“Hopps,” she answered with a smile.

 

“Call me John,” he said, smiling back. “I’m so sorry, let me get my son down here before I waste anymore of your time.”

 

“Thank you,” Judy said, not wanting to seem in a rush. Though, if she was honest with herself, she had little time to dawdle when there could be a bomb planted anywhere in the city.

 

“Nathan!” John called up to the apartment above with a hoof to his mouth. “The police are down here, we know all about the drugs!”

 

“What?!” Judy heard a younger voice call out from upstairs. There was a shuffling of footsteps and frantic movement followed by the mutterings of a nervous teenager.

 

“That should get him,” John said, shooting Judy a smile. More frantic footsteps echoed from the staircase as a shorter buck practically ran down the stairs to see his father behind the counter and a bunny in a police uniform. His antlers were still growing in, barely a point on them. He looked around nervously between the two of them with his paws open, as if to demonstrate there was nothing in them.

 

“I have no idea what drugs you’re talking about! Please, officer, if Rodney was caught with nip, he did not get it from me, I swear!”

 

“Calm down, Nathan, I’m not busting anyone for drugs today. Your father was playing you,” she said and gestured to John, who was trying his best to hold his laughter in. In a moment, Nathan’s face twisted from wide-eyed fear to a frustrated glare.

 

“Dad!” he barked. John began doubling over in laughter and slapping his hoof against the countertop.

 

“Well, at least I know you’re not dealing drugs! Though you might have just squealed on your friend.”

 

Nathan bit his lower lip and shot Judy another fearful glance, his foot placed firmly in his mouth. Judy shook her head gently again and waved off his father’s teasing.

 

“Nathan, my name is Officer Hopps. Your father tells me that you got a good look at the car fire that happened outside your home a few months ago. I was wondering if you could tell me what you saw.”

 

Nathan relaxed a little and placed his hooves in the pocket of his hoodie. “Oh yeah. That was crazy! I was biking home late one Friday night and there was this old sports car parked out front. I didn’t think anything of it till I got a little closer and the whole thing went up in flames!”

 

“Just like that? How fast was it?” Judy asked.

 

“It was basically an explosion! There was this massive fireball like * _pschew*,_ and the fire was so hot I could feel the heat from a block down!” Nathan accented his story with sound effects and hand gestures illustrating how the car was set ablaze. _Certainly foul play,_ Judy thought.

 

“There was a small crowd watching the fire by the time I got any closer. Mammals were screaming and shouting. I caught some of it on video but my dad says I can’t post it online,” he mentioned. The last comment made Judy’s ear twitch.

 

“You caught it on video?” she asked eagerly. “May I see it?”

 

Nathan’s eyes lit up and he smiled, looking hesitantly at his dad as if asking permission. John rolled his eyes and motioned towards the stairs with one hoof.

 

“Gotta get my phone!” Nathan said and bolted back towards the staircase behind the counter where he came from. Judy could hear his excited footsteps pound against the hardwood floors.

 

“He’s fast,” Judy observed.

 

“Nathan runs like a Deere,” John said proudly and nodded.

 

“Why not let him post the video?” Judy asked offhand.

 

“You’ll see when you watch the video. Some poor mammal lost somebody in the fire, I didn’t want Nathan broadcasting that online. Though I’m realizing now I probably should have sent it to the ZPD in case they needed it,” he said sheepishly.

 

Less than a minute later, Nathan returned with his phone in his hoof. The young buck only needed to lean over a bit to get to Judy’s eye level. Judy brought the phone up to her face as Nathan eagerly pressed play.

 

“Whoa! Holy scat!” Nathan’s voice rang out when the video started playing. The car was already aflame and a crowd of spectators watched the car from a safe-ish distance. The shaky video showed the car with its paint still intact, but the interior completely alight with a raging blaze. The windows were blown out and the blackest smoke poured upwards into the night sky. Judy noticed that the ground underneath the car was on fire as well.

 

“Let me through, let me through!” she heard a voice cry from off screen. Judy held the screen up closer to her face, watching carefully. There was something familiar about that voice.

 

“Out of the way! Let me go!” the voice called out. Nathan’s camera pointed away from the fire and to the crowd beside him. Judy could barely contain a choked gasp as Jack Savage appeared on screen. He was dressed in his same suit as usual, but his expression was completely new to her. Another ZBI agent she remembered as Agent Brocktree, a badger, was holding onto his suit jacket, keeping him from running towards the blaze.

 

“Skye! Let me go, she’s still in there! Skye!” He kicked and clawed at his coworker who held onto him with a painful sorrow in her eyes. Another agent soon joined the badger in keeping Savage restrained. What Judy was watching was unreal. Jack Savage’s face was not the indifference or haughty contempt he usually displayed. There was little else to see from his shaking features and broken voice. Panic, anger, and fear.

 

“Skye! Skye!!” he called out, his voice breaking as his legs gave out.

 

“Nathan! Where were you? I was so worried! Put that down, we’ve gotta get somewhere safer,” John’s voice rang in the microphone. The camera shook and pointed down towards the ground before cutting off completely.

 

“Play it again!” Judy barked. Nathan jumped with a start before scrolling back through the video player on his phone and hitting play. Once again, the image of the car filled up the entire frame with a bright and angry orange glow. The camera shook a little as the car continued to burn. A few moments later, Jack Savage appeared on screen, screaming out for Agent Frost and fighting with his coworkers in vain.

 

Judy’s heart dropped as she watched Agent Savage writhe in agony as he watched the vixen burn. It was so strange to her, watching the bunny she came to resent in so much pain. It felt a bit like the first time she saw the photo of Nick with Pumar and Terrence, like it was a cartoon or a fictional TV show. But despite playing and replaying the footage a few times more, the phone showed the same impossible video every time.

 

“I’ll need you to send this to me,” Judy requested before handing back Nathan’s phone to him. She produced a ZPD card with her contact information on it and handed it to the young buck, who took it and nodded hesitantly.

 

“Is there anything else we can do, Officer Hopps?” John asked politely.

 

“Thank you, but no. I believe this will be plenty,” she said and motioned towards the door. She was eager to get back to the precinct now and confer with her coworkers that what she just saw was real.

 

“Is everything ok?” Nathan asked timidly.

 

Judy feigned a smile and waved off their concerned looks.

 

“It’s fine, Nathan. Thank you for helping me. If you think of anything else, just reach out to me with that email address,” she said and turned to leave. “Oh! And tell your friend Rodney that we catch dozens of kids with nip every day, so if he doesn’t quit he’ll probably be brought into the station in cuffs.”

 

Nathan’s eyes went wide and he nodded nervously at Judy’s warning. She guessed that Nathan was a good kid, so her warning would be passed on. Judy waved at the both of them and stepped out the door and into the street, her mind still reeling from the video. She was now on the same street corner she saw in the clip, only the spot in front of the store was now empty. Judy stopped and stared at the empty spot, trying to make sense of everything she learned.

 

Not only had a ZBI agent gone rogue by faking her own death, but even Jack Savage was duped by it. He even seemed to care about the vixen, enough to break down in horror at the sight of her ‘demise’. Agent Frost came from a criminal background, so it was not crazy to suggest she could be bought by a well-paid gunrunner. She could have played along with the ZBI until the time came to ditch them. The story was so familiar it sent shivers down her spine.

 

Judy noticed something else about the parking spot in front of the store. There was a storm drain along the curb that was large enough for her to slip into easily, should she need to. The car would have been parked directly above the drain, obscuring it from the camera. She then remembered seeing flames on the ground beneath the car while the fire was still blazing in the interior. The outside wasn’t burned up by that point, so whatever catalyst was fueling the fire had spilled onto the ground through a hole in the floor of the car. Perhaps a hole big enough for a slim vixen to fit through.

 

Judy looked up towards the nearby canal and stepped forward. She looked down both directions of the street carefully before crossing it quickly and hopping up onto the stone wall that bordered the edge of the road and the canal. Below her feet was a large concrete pipeline that opened out into the canal to funnel rainwater off the streets.

 

“She must have slipped out here,” Judy murmured and looked downriver. The vixen slipped out of view of the crowd and into the water where her scent would be lost to any trackers looking for her. _A little misdirection and flash could fool the most confident mind when the timing is right_ , Nick would say. Any good conman knew that. Judy stared out into the water, pondering something Jack Savage had told her when this whole mess started.

 

_You’re not the only one who got hustled._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A HUGE thank you to IttyBittyKittyTittys for the artwork in this particular chapter. It looks amazing. You can find it and more of his work at his Tumblr and Deviantart page.
> 
> http://ittybittykittytittys.deviantart.com/  
> ittybittykittytittys.tumblr.com
> 
> Another big thank you to my beta readers, and to you my followers! Thanks for reading.


	10. Until Then

Agent Jack Savage was pacing with his phone pressed to his ear. He clearly stepped outside to have a more private conversation with whomever he was speaking with. But it was odd that he found it necessary to speak away from his coworkers.

Judy could not see his face too clearly from the precinct parking lot, but he clearly was having a heated conversation with someone. She tried her best to hear what he was saying with little success. Rabbit ears could only catch so much.

He was standing outside the precinct doors, so simply walking up with the intent to pass by him and entering the lobby was innocent enough. She walked with purpose towards the front doors, keeping her ears forward.

“The only thing the press knows is the chase. They don’t know who or why,” she heard Savage explain. He waited patiently for a response, not yet noticing Judy. There was another short silence before he spoke up again. “The ZPD is in the same boat as we are, so they won’t go public either. Once we find them, it won’t be a problem any more.”

Judy’s ears twitched as Savage’s tone darkened. She was now only a few yards away from him, yet it still took a moment for him to react to her presence. She glared at him, placing one foot on the steps to the precinct and placing her paws on her hips. He looked back at her with curious eyes, studying her features closely. He stayed silent as the mumblings of the other speaker came from his phone. Jack maintained eye contact with her as he ended the call.

“She won’t be,” he said coldly, and after a moment he ended his call. “Yes sir,” he said and hung up.

“The director not happy with you?” Judy asked with an eyebrow raised.

 Savage placed his paws in his pockets and scowled at her. “Unsurprisingly he’d rather we catch terrorists instead of letting them get away,” he said pointedly. Judy could tell that was a jab at her failure to apprehend the former Agent Frost.

“I seem to recall getting closer to catching her than you did,” Judy jabbed back.

Jack Savage’s glare narrowed, morphing into a cold stare that Judy knew was full of resentment, and perhaps a twinge of jealousy that she had gotten closer than he did. This was more than just another culprit, after all.  “Is there something I can help you with, Officer?” he asked.

“No,” Judy said and began walking past him. “I only suggest you spend a little more of your time investigating the terrorists rather than my coworkers.”

Savage watched as she left him outside to ponder her statement. The same curious look of apathy returned to his face as per usual, but for the first time in a while she felt like she had bested him. Not only was he unaware of her own leads, but now she also knew enough about him to predict what his next move was going to be.

No matter how well he wore that face of indifference, to Jack Savage, this was personal. He was played for a chump, and now Judy knew it. He might even take some satisfaction in taking Frost down the same way the feds always took down terrorists: with a hailstorm of bullets. But now she knew that the ZBI were trying to cover their tracks, and apparently even the ZBI director wanted the case closed quickly and quietly. That was leverage, and she would keep it in her pocket just in case.

Judy’s phone buzzed. She quickly scooped it out of her pocket, but sighed in disappointment when she read the message. It was a simple amber alert detailing the license plate, make, and model of the motorcycle that Agent Frost had used to escape. The message meant that Fangmeyer finished with the DMV, so Judy made her way back upstairs where she left poor Wolford alone with the traffic cameras. Upon arriving, she found both the wolf and tiger huddled over his screen gesturing at something.

“Hopps! Come here,” Wolford hissed and ushered her closer. Judy shot a glance in both directions to make sure the chief was not present and joined them. Wolford scooted a bit to one side of his chair and she hopped up on the seat beside him.

“Did you find something?” she asked.

“We’re not sure,” Fangmeyer started. “Show her the first part.”

“Right,” Wolford began. “So, I went to get some lunch, and when I got back, the screen was on this camera here.” He punched a few keys and brought up a camera from the Rainforest District canopy that looked over the road on Tujunga Bridge. The timestamp was not long after the chase down midtown.

“See anything?” Fangmeyer asked. Judy looked at the screen for a moment, and shrugged back at her partner.

“Neither did I. But instead of hitting the swap-camera button, I accidentally hit the play button and I immediately noticed movement in the top right corner. Watch,” he said and tapped the spacebar. The traffic on the bridge came to life and a few branches swayed in the evening breeze. After a brief moment, Judy noticed a brief scuttling of branches where Wolford was pointing. It was subtle, but it was certainly not the wind.

“Can you zoom it in at all?” Judy asked.

“We tried, the resolution is too poor to see anything. But after looking through a few more cameras, I saw the same sort of thing at this one,” Wolford said and switched the view to a different camera. Again, he tapped play, and after a few moments of peaceful sway in the foliage, a subtle twitch in the branches signaled someone in the trees.

“There aren’t any pathways that high up, right?” Judy asked. Fangmeyer shook her head. Wolford looked over to Judy with a shrug and pondered aloud.

“Could be some daredevil kids,” he suggested.

“We haven’t found the car yet, right?” Judy clarified.

“Yeah,” Fangmeyer nodded. “Max and I finished looking at the rest of the camera footage from yesterday and found nothing.”

“Hmm,” Judy pondered aloud. “Do we have any cameras on the canopy cable cars?”

“Huh,” Wolford realized. “Only the ends of either line. The rest of the time the sky trams are above the cameras.”

This gave Judy an idea. “Show me the cable car entrance near midtown, about ten minutes before this timestamp,” Judy instructed. Wolford fumbled with the keys for a moment before searching for the camera she was talking about. He was familiar with the camera network, but none of them were as fast as Francine was.

“There,” he said after a moment of searching. “Whoa.”

“That’s our car,” Fangmeyer said with wide eyes. Sure enough, in the parking by the sky tram station was the same black sedan they were searching for. No wonder they did not catch it going into the Rainforest District. It never went in.

“They must have used the cable cars to get into the canopy and hopped out somewhere along the way to avoid the cameras,” Judy suggested.

“If they avoided the cameras, we won’t be able see where they went,” Fangmeyer added.

“Let’s move,” Judy said before hopping off the desk. “There are probably one or two spots where they could have jumped from the cable car at all. Wolford, you’re on the car. Sniff it out and see what you find. Fangmeyer, you’re with me. I need your eyes to see where they could have gone. Once we know their exit point, then we just trace the possible routes and search them all.”

“Yes ma’am,” Fangmeyer said dutifully, a slight smile finding its way onto her muzzle.

There was a certain rush that every officer felt whenever he or she discovered a new lead. Investigations were usually littered with frequent trips in and out of the precinct as they collected evidence, and leaving the precinct always felt better. Judy would hop a little bit as they made their way to the car. Wolford’s tail would wag slightly, and Fangmeyer would walk with purpose whenever they caught a good lead. Little teasing moments like this leading up to cracking the case was what made police work worthwhile.

 

* * *

 

 

Wolford peered into the windows of the black sedan that stood baking in the sun by the cable car station. A handful of mammals were in line to take an early afternoon ride along the canopy. He gave the car doors a yank, but they didn’t budge.

“Worth a shot,” he sighed. “I’ve got a lock booster in the cruiser, but I’ll need to call this in to get a property warrant on the car.”

“That’s alright,” Judy said. “It’ll take us at least 20 minutes to get down the cable line, then 20 minutes back. That should be plenty. Keep us posted on what you find.”

“Have a good ride,” he said and saluted them both before leaning into his shoulder and hitting the button on his radio. “Dispatch, this is Wolford. I’ve got an abandoned sedan, probable 10-12. Can I get a search warrant on this?”

Judy and Fangmeyer let him be. The poor wolf would likely be waiting in the hot sun while dispatch sent the request to town hall, who would likely have some intern fill out the necessary form and send it back to the precinct before Wolford could force his way inside the car. Once upon a time, that process would have taken days. Thanks to technology, they could get the warrant in the time it took to go get coffee, which was often what Judy and Nick did whenever they were waiting on a car warrant.

“Haven’t been on this thing in ages,” Judy said as they approached the station. They walked right up to the front of the line. The muskrat at the controls waved them through, happy to let officers have precedence. They waited a moment as a few of the smaller cars came and went. Every fourth car was larger to accommodate bigger mammals such as Fangmeyer. Once they were onboard, they immediately began to look at ways of jumping off without dying.

“There must have been a low-hanging branch they could have simply grabbed as they went by,” Fangmeyer suggested.

“Don’t you think that would have been noticed by someone else on the cable cars?” Judy asked.

“Maybe, but it’s amazing the type of stunts mammals see and never report,” Fangmeyer said. Judy knew she spoke from experience, having been on the force decades longer than herself. They settled in as the cable car ascended high above the streets below. They were still over Savannah Central, so for the time being, they quietly enjoyed the ride.

“Is this the same cable line where the chief asked for your badge?” Fangmeyer asked with a contemplative look on her face. Judy smiled at the memory. It was nearly the early end of her career if it weren’t for Nick intervening.

“Yeah,” she said happily. “And where Nick stood up to the chief.”

“I’ll never forget the guts on that fox,” Fangmeyer remembered.

“You were there that day?” Judy asked.

“Half the precinct was there for that, Judy,” she reminded her. “We were all stunned speechless. I was convinced the chief was about to toss him off the platform.”

“If you think he was angry then, you should have seen his face when I told him Nick joined the academy and that I wanted him to be my partner,” Judy said.

“Oh, I can imagine. I have to admit, what he said made me feel pretty awful,” Fangmeyer confessed.

“What do you mean?” Judy asked with a frown.

“He said something like, ‘no wonder she needed help from a fox. None of you were going to help her.’ Truth is, he was right. I assumed, before I even spoke to you, that you wouldn’t last and were beyond training or helping out. I was not terribly proud of myself or the precinct in that moment.”

“Don’t feel bad, Fangmeyer,” Judy reassured her. “You all came around eventually. Besides, I will owe you for the rest of my life for helping me with this investigation.”

“Easy decision,” Fangmeyer said confidently, smiling at Judy. She smiled back and placed her elbows over the edge of the car as they gently floated towards the thick foliage of the Rainforest District.

Judy looked back on that day fondly as when she first grew close to Nick. In fact, it was on that very cable car that he first opened up to her about his own past. After watching him make friends on the force, she understood just how important that was for him to share. He hardly shared anything with even his closest friends, and that made his story that much more meaningful. He must have seen something in her all the way back then, long before they grew as close as they were now.

“Check that out,” Fangmeyer said and pointed towards the trees as they approached. Judy followed her finger and noticed a pool of water collecting on the edge of a large tree. The water trickled off on one side in a silvery waterfall that emptied out into the river below. Above it, a dozen or so long vines dangled right along the cable car path.

“Does the door open?” Judy asked. Fangmeyer gave the handle a tug, and sure enough, the door pulled inward. As they past the branches, Judy peered out of the opening. The height set all of her nerves on edge, but she was positive that it wouldn’t take more than leaning out of the door to catch one of those vines and swing towards the pool.

“Ok, so let’s say they got off here. Where did they go?” Fangmeyer asked. Judy followed the tree upwards and along the higher branches. They did not look too difficult to climb, especially for a pack of predators.

“Look!” Judy said and pointed out towards the clearing. “That’s Tujunga Bridge. They would have made their way from that pool along the branches there. That’s where Wolford noticed them on the cameras.”

“So they were heading north. Where did they go from there?”

“They would have chosen a spot in a traffic camera blind spot so we couldn’t tail them. It makes sense if they have the guts to jump the cable cars like that. Now they’re settled in deep in the Rainforest District with no cameras tracking them and a 360 degree view of any police coming towards them,” Judy reasoned.

“How many spots in the Rainforest District are not covered by traffic cams?” Fangmeyer asked.

“Not many,” Judy said confidently. “Which means all we need to do is check each one until we find them.”

“I agree,” Fangmeyer said and clapped Judy on the shoulder. “Good work, Hopps.”

Judy and Fangmeyer glided down the canopy as they came to the end of the cable car line. When they did, they simply asked the technician to allow them to head straight back. He waved them through and the car glided back up into the trees and along the streets. The sun was beginning to get lower now, Judy noticed. The day went by quickly, but there was plenty of work to be done before she could catch any sleep tonight. If her luck held out, she would be able to catch them before the next morning.

“Officer McHorn to Fangmeyer, come in, Fangmeyer,” Judy’s radio chimed. Judy looked up to Fangmeyer, who was fiddling with her radio with a scowl on her face. She tweaked the buttons and knobs but the static that came from Judy’s radio was not coming out of hers. 

“Must be dead,” Fangmeyer sighed. “I’ve got another in the cruiser. Can I borrow yours?”

“Sure thing,” Judy said and unclipped her radio mic from her shoulder. Fangmeyer knelt down towards Judy and leaned over before carefully pressing the mic button.

“Go ahead, McHorn,” she called out.

“Got two tips on our missing motorcycle. One in the Meadows and the other by Sahara Square. Both matching the description of the bike from the chase yesterday.”

“Rodger that, McHorn. You want to divide and conquer?” she asked. A line of static filled the radio speaker for a moment before he answered.

“Sure. I’m already in Sahara Square, so I’ll check that one out,” he grunted.

“10-4. I’ll take the Meadows. Text me the address,” she answered.

“Rodger that, Kanya.” After that, their radios went silent.

Judy rubbed her chin, thinking back to her unpleasant talk with Agent Savage the afternoon before. He mentioned losing the vixen in the Meadows where the cameras were less reliable, or just not there at all.

“I’ll come with you,” Judy decided.

“You think this bike might yield something?” Fangmeyer asked.

“Probably not. My guess is she found a secluded spot to ditch the bike and took off to link up with the others. But it’s worth checking out.”

Truth was, Judy was skeptical the motorcycle would lead to anything significant, but not for professional reasons. Since Nick was not on the motorcycle, he would not have left any clues for her, and she doubted an experienced agent and former thief would make any easy mistakes.

Judy took another good look at the vines and pool as they glided by in the other direction. Past the trees she could see the shimmering lights of downtown slowly beginning to illuminate. The sun was still going down so the entire skyline was lit up with a brilliant orange color. A few windows from the skyscrapers bounced the sunlight back at them, shining a bright flash for a moment and then fading as the cable car approached the station they departed from.

When they finished their afternoon cruise, Judy and Fangmeyer walked back towards the black sedan and noticed the passenger door was wide open. Apparently Wolford was able to get the search warrant in good time. As they got closer, Wolford popped his head out from the open sunroof and waved a small plastic can at the two of them.

“You two enjoy your romantic getaway?” he jokingly asked them.

 “Hopps does have a thing for predators,” Fangmeyer jested, which made Judy roll her eyes.

“Have you found anything, Maxwell?” she asked him with an unamused grimace on her face.

“Check it out,” he said and tossed her the plastic container. Judy caught it carefully with both paws and inspected it closer. It was a yellow can of Musk-Mask, a common product to deodorize mammals who had more pronounced scents that other mammals found intrusive. Skunks found them popular for obvious reasons. To an untrained nose, it might do well to hide the scent of a mammal who was somewhere he was not supposed to be. However, Wolford had the best nose in the precinct.

“Did they try to cover their tracks?” Judy said and looked back up to Wolford.

“Not terribly well. Wouldn’t take a pro to smell who was here. I’ve got Nick and Pumar for sure. My guess is the twitchy guy used the mask while the others didn’t bother,” Wolford guessed.

“I think you’re right,” Judy said with a nod. “That seems in line with what we know about Terrence so far. Might have done him more harm than good. If we can trace where he bought it from it might let us know where they are now. You catch anything else?”

“Oh yeah,” Wolford said slowly, and held up a small plastic evidence bag in one paw. Inside was a thin blue flower pedal, torn on one side. Wolford’s sly smile would have made Nick proud. Judy’s eyes went wide, her mouth falling open a little as she realized what Wolford had found.

“Is that what I think it is?” Judy said, astonished.

“The scent is not that strong,” Wolford said, “but it’s Nighthowler, alright.”

This was both incredibly good news and concerning at the same time. The good news was that this could link both Pumar and Terrence to any Nighthowler devices they found going forward, and it also meant that they could easily gain access to special resources normally reserved for emergencies. High-powered tranq rifles, helicopter support, and even a T.U.S.K. force if they thought it necessary. A Tactical Unit for Suppressing Killers, or T.U.S.K. force as they were colloquially known, was a specialized team outfitted with heavy armor and equipment, and could make the difference in catching Nick alive if Judy could lead one.

Unfortunately, none of that was possible unless they reported the Nighthowler petal at the station and received the green light from the chief. While Chief Bogo would no doubt give her his support, there was no way she could report the new evidence without telling the ZBI about it as well, and there was a chance that Jack Savage might commandeer her entire investigation. All of her work and progress towards finding Nick would go to waste.

“What’s the plan, captain?” Wolford asked her.

“I . . .” she began at a loss. “I’m not sure.”

“Let’s tell the chief,” Fangmeyer suggested.

“What?” Wolford said with a cocked eyebrow. “The ZBI would steal all of our work! Might as well hand Wilde over on a silver platter.”

“The chief is not an idiot. If we can find where Wilde is before the lab confirms the evidence, then we can report the evidence, assemble the T.U.S.K. force, and raid the location before the ZBI catches wind. All we need is a green light from the chief,” Fangmeyer explained.

“The timing would have to be perfect,” Judy said. “In order for it to work, we’ll have to assemble the team, brief everyone, and set up at the location before the chief gives us the green light. As soon as he gives us the signal to move, the ZBI will be there in full force in a few minutes.”

“A few minutes,” Wolford repeated. “Some raids last 30 seconds. We’ll have Pumar, Wilde, the other fox and the doctor all cuffed and tied up in a ribbon for them by the time they show up.”

“So it all depends on if we can locate Nick before the lab confirms the Nighthowler,” Judy concluded. She had her paw to her chin and scratched it thoughtfully. The plan was beautifully simple: find Nick, get a team together, and then move so fast that the ZBI could not catch up. For the first time in her career, she was hoping that the evidence took _more_ time to process in the lab, rather than less.

“We need to start looking for possible locations now,” Judy said. Her coworkers did not miss the urgency in her tone.

“Then let’s move,” Wolford said confidently and leapt out of the car and gestured to his cruiser. “Hopps, you want to ride with me or Fangmeyer?”

“Maxwell, do you ever pay attention to your radio?” Fangmeyer scolded. 

“What?” he asked in confusion.

“We have to check out a reported hit on the missing motorcycle in the Meadows,” Judy explained. “We’ll join up with you at the precinct.”

“Judy, you go ahead,” Fangmeyer waved her off. “We’ll probably get ten more reports on the motorcycle before we actually find the right one. Besides, finding Wilde is more important right now.”

“You sure?” she asked, not wanting to leave her coworker to a menial task on her own.

 “Go for it. I’ll meet up with you at the office,” she said and smiled 

“Okay,” Judy nodded. “Link up with us as soon as you can. Wolford, head straight to the lab with that sample. Once you’re done, join me at my desk and we’ll hunt for likely locations.”

“Happy hunting,” Fangmeyer said and lightly jogged towards her cruiser. Judy and Wolford ran towards his and set off for the precinct.

 

 

* * *

 

“You want me to go slowly this time?” Remi asked her, a little in shock. The rat had bumped into Judy as she was on her way to her desk, and she dropped a not-so-subtle hint for him to take his time with the most recent bit of evidence Wolford would bring him.

“If you’ve got other things on your plate, finish those first,” Judy suggested. “Make it a slow day, that’s all I’m asking.”

“Do I want to know why?” Remi asked with his arms folded across his chest.

“Well, last time I told you to rush, right?” Judy remembered. “This one is less urgent so I thought you’d want a break from urgency, as a way to thank you for your help.”

“Ugh,” Remi sighed and rubbed his forehead. “I miss Wilde. He is such a better liar than you are.”

With that, the rat continued on his way down the hall with a relaxed stride, happy to take his time. Judy continued as well and found her desk. She immediately pulled up a detailed topographical map of the Rainforest District. She started with the spot she and Fangmeyer found along the cable cars and began tracing out possible pathways through the trees, ignoring any that went past a traffic camera.

It was a little nerve-wracking, the idea of her leading a T.U.S.K. force. She was certified and trained herself for special operations when she could, and each time it was a heart-thumping experience. She had been assigned to a T.U.S.K. force op only once before, but only because she was the only mammal small enough to fit into the air duct at the time. A disgruntled employee at an office building had snapped and took one of his coworkers hostage in the break room. She was able to sneak in through the air vents and unlock the door for the rest of her team. She earned the name Trojan Rabbit for a few weeks after that stunt.

It was one of her favorite memories of being on the force. Not only was she relied upon for a serious operation, but she had also pulled through and kept calm under pressure. However, Officer Delgato was the team leader in that operation. No responsibility or difficult choices were thrust upon her. For this case, it would be quite different.

The only leadership experience she had thus far was with the team she was currently working with to find Nick. Also, that disgruntled employee had used a staple gun as his weapon, so he turned out to be no threat to the team. Pumar, on the other hand, was an arms dealer, so he was likely packing some serious heat. Terrence had killed one mammal already, so he was not above firing back. And Agent Frost was a wildcard. She was highly trained and bold, bordering on reckless, earning her codename ‘Spitfire’. There was no telling what she would do when responding to a raid.

The only thing she could rely on was Nick. Once the raid started, she was confident he would help them take down the conspirators. That gave her an element of surprise that would win the day, as long as she could execute it properly.

“Hey, Hopps,” a booming low voice called out. Officer McHorn gave her a short salute as he walked by.

“Hey, McHorn,” she greeted him back. “Already checked out the reported motorcycle?”

“Huh? Oh yeah, the tip in Sahara Square. Turned out to be an old sheep who thought all motorcyclists were trash so she reported the one that keeps taking up the handicap spot at Flake’s. I had the bike towed, but it wasn’t the one we’re after,” he explained.

“Did that lady also report the one in the Meadows?” she asked, remembering that was where Fangmeyer had gone to investigate the other bike.

“Nah. That one was an anonymous tip. Probably the same story though,” he said and began walking away towards the coffee machine.

“Hey,” she stopped him. “Would you happen to remember the address on that report?”

“Corner of 5th and Lake Street,” he said over his shoulder.

Something about the words ‘anonymous tip’ always set Judy’s ears up a little higher. Perhaps it was some leftover rookie nerves that refused to let go after years on the beat. It simply struck her as odd why anyone would want to hide themselves from the police. Nick was always much more understanding, of course.

Out of curiosity, she pulled up the traffic camera map and found the intersection McHorn mentioned. It was in the northernmost part of the Meadows, far away from dense jurisdiction. The Meadows was rough all around, but certain areas were worse than others. This particular intersection looked like it hardly saw traffic.

Judy pulled up the camera feed from the intersection and immediately saw the motorcycle parked beneath a lamp post. The light flickered a little as she inspected the bike as closely as she could, given the resolution. The license plates were off, but the color was right, and the windshield was shattered.

Judy began to get nervous as she looked more closely at the bike. If she had to gamble money on it, she would bet it was the right one. She had seen it more closely than anyone else, after all. So then why on earth would they have ditched the motorcycle in plain view of a traffic camera? There were no other functional cameras anywhere near that spot, so there were better places to hide it.  

Judy’s heart skipped a beat when she realized they picked the spot on purpose. It was far away from any nearby patrols or dense crowds but still in plain view of the camera. It was taunting them, daring the police to come for it, and Fangmeyer was headed there all alone.

“Officer Hopps to Officer Fangmeyer, what’s your 20?” she called into her radio. A moment of silence followed before she repeated her call.

“Officer Fangmeyer, come in,” she hailed, a little more nervously this time. Judy’s eyes widened as she remembered Fangmeyer’s radio was dead. She frantically pulled out her cell phone and dialed Fangmeyer’s phone, hoping to heavens she was wrong. The phone rang, and she continued to stare at her screen, looking for any sign of another mammal. Each ring took ages, and eventually she got Fangmeyer’s voicemail.

“Scat,” she cursed and dialed again. The rings were just as unbearable the second time, and her foot was anxiously tapping without her thinking about it. “Come on, come on.”

“Judy?” Fangmeyer’s voice answered. Judy let a small sigh of release escape her mouth before she answered.

“Fangmeyer. Where are you?” she asked quickly.

“I’m in the Meadows checking out the reported motorcycle,” she responded, a hint of confusion in her voice. “Sorry, I forgot my radio is dead.”

“Fangmeyer, listen, I’m not sure about this but I think that might be our bike. Don’t get too cl--”

“Found it. I’m looking at it now,” Fangmeyer’s voice rang in her ear. Judy’s heart dropped as she watched Fangmeyer’s form appear on screen. Judy’s paws were shaking.

“Fangmeyer! Listen, you need to get out of there. I think it might be bait,” she explained.

“Bait?” she asked, catching the nervous tone in Judy’s voice.

“Just trust me! You need to get out of--”

She saw it before she heard it. There was about a one-second lag between the screen and her phone. What she saw was a suppressed sidearm kick backwards and fling bullet casings into the air. What she heard a blink later was a high-pitched crack as the gun fired, followed by Fangmeyer hissing in pain.

“Fangmeyer!” Judy cried out. She watched as the back of Fangmeyer’s uniform ripped open a half-dozen times in small circles. She reeled back for a moment in agony, placing a paw on the seat of the motorcycle for support. A moment later, she was on the ground lying very still. Judy’s paws moved to her radio and mashed on the panic button.

“Shots fired! Shots fired! Officer Hopps to all units, officer down at the intersection of 5th and Lake Street. Requesting immediate backup and medical support!”

Judy could see the spots in Fangmeyer’s uniform become darker. She looked to one side and saw a figure approach the wounded tiger, placing his weapon back into his coat pocket and standing over the wounded tiger. Judy could not see much; his face was turned away from the camera. But she could see his golden-brown fur on his paw as he reached for Fangmeyer’s phone.

“Officers Delgato and Higgins responding!” Judy heard from her radio. She could not rip her gaze away from the screen as the shooter stood over Fangmeyer. He held her phone in one paw, observing it closely, before holding it up to his face.

Judy froze, hypnotized by the shooter’s posture as he held her friend’s cellphone to his cheek. She nearly forgot about her own phone, which had clattered onto her desk. She picked it up slowly and raised it up to her own ear. He didn’t speak for what felt like ages, but eventually Judy heard a cold, raspy voice call to her.

“Officer Hopps?” his voice grumbled. Her nose was twitching like mad, and her paws were shaking. Despite that, her voice was remarkably calm when she responded.

“Pumar,” she accused.

“Well,” he began. “At least you can pronounce my name correctly.” His calm tone awakened Judy’s rage.

“You monster!” she cried out, gripping her phone with all her strength. “I will lock you in the deepest, darkest hole I can find and then toss the key into the river, you hear me?! I’ll have your claws for this!”

“Mm? Ah, yes. You mean the tiger,” Pumar realized. It was hard to believe he could have enraged Judy more, but for a moment he had actually _forgotten_ what he just did to her friend. “Such a waste of good teeth, if you ask me. I was hoping to find you here.”

Judy’s voice caught in her throat as her eyes widened again. He was after her, and found Fangmeyer instead. Judy’s stomach felt cold and she placed a paw on her desk, leaning on it for support. She continued to stare at Pumar through the screen, his back turned to the camera. She realized that the longer she had him on the phone, the more likely the officers responding might catch him. She took a deep breath and tried to get him talking.

“Where is Nick?” she ordered. His chuckle was dark and heartless, sending a cold shiver down her spine.

“The foxes are at play, little bunny,” he replied. “I must say, those two are the most cruel creatures I’ve ever worked with.”

“Bold words coming from a murderer,” Judy growled.

“I’m by no means guiltless,” he confessed. “But death would have been a kindness by comparison. Those two played with the hearts of _bunnies_ and left them to rot. I am not so soulless,” he asserted. From his voice, she could tell he was older than she expected. Middle-aged and slightly withered, though his posture displayed that of a toned fighter. He was past his prime, but still dangerous.

“You’re a coward who shoots mammals in the back,” she spat.

“A bunny of honor, are you? Wilde told me you grew up on a farm. That sounds peaceful,” he said. Now he was slowly pacing, keeping his coat collar up and away from the camera. “I grew up in a cage.”

“Good,” she growled. “You’ll feel right at home in prison.”

“Prison?” he chuckled. “I’m sorry, Officer, but if you are unfortunate enough to survive the coming fire, locking up criminals will be the least of your worries.”

“I don’t care how far you go, how fast you run, or what destruction you leave behind. I will catch you, and when I do, you should pray I remain a law-abiding citizen,” said Judy. Her paw against the desk was balled up into a tight fist. What nails she had were digging into her palms almost hard enough to break skin.

Pumar chose this moment to peer over his shoulder and look at the camera. His mouth was curled downward in a subtle grimace that Judy expected to be the natural resting position of his features. There was very little emotion behind his face, save for his eyes. They were bright, glowing like green fireflies towards the camera. Part of her was glad the resolution on the screen was mediocre, because his glare was making her shake.

“Until then, Carrots _._ ”

Judy felt as though the floor fell from beneath her feet. There was nothing else he could have said that crawled underneath her skin more than using Nick’s name for her. Judy balked and began screaming obscenities at him through the phone. Her rage was so powerful and numbing, she did not notice the tears beginning to boil over her eyelids and burn her cheeks.

Pumar dropped the phone on the ground and stepped over Fangmeyer’s form unceremoniously. He began disappearing down the dark of the street and out of frame. Judy roared and angrily hurled her cellphone across the room where it slammed against another monitor, shattering the screen.

“All units, suspect is a male mountain lion heading north on Lake Street!” she yelled into her radio. She continued to bark details into her microphone for several agonizing minutes before the flashes of red and blue began to fade into the image on her screen. Fangmeyer had not moved at all.

 

 

 

 


	11. Duty

Judy remembered how Higgins once described her dress blues as ‘untainted’. She only wore her formal uniform on a handful of occasions as an officer. She would dress up if she was invited to speak at graduation, for example, or during the parades in autumn. What Higgins meant was that she had not yet worn them during the funeral of a fellow officer. After hearing that, Judy looked at her dress blues hanging in her closet with a passing sense of dread.

As she sat in the medium-sized chair in the hospital waiting room, she could not stop thinking about her formal uniform. After strapping her tassels and stars on her shoulders, she would look in the mirror, and for the first time she would wish she was not in uniform. Instead of pride, she would spend the next several hours holding back tears. Showing too much emotion while in formal uniform was frowned upon, though sometimes it could not be helped.

Wolford was sitting next to her, his elbows on his knees and his leg bouncing up and down nervously. He looked down at the linoleum floor of the hospital waiting room, both furiously focused and distant at the same time. He had arrived shortly after Bogo did, along with one or two other officers that helped clear the crime scene.

Judy had arrived on the scene with just enough time to watch Fangmeyer get loaded into a large ambulance. The police tape blocking off the area seemed unnecessary because the neighborhood was so sparse that no crowd surfaced to observe the commotion. Judy was grateful for the privacy so she could focus on the work that needed to be done. They found bullet casings, the motorcycle, and a few strands of fur, but no sign of where Pumar had gone.

Agent Savage did show up eventually, though he did not stay long. He and agents Juarez and Brocktree spent more time focusing on Pumar’s possible escape routes rather than what he had done to Fangmeyer. She caught his eye, for a moment, but he gave her space this time. She was unsure if it was out of respect, or because she had nothing to give him, either way it was a welcome break from his pestering.

It took hours into the night for them to clear the scene, and Judy was relentless at working with the CSI team. For the first time, though, she was not concerned with her performance as a cop. Instead, she focused on her job as a distraction from the inevitable trip to Zootopia General Hospital.

No more distractions now, just waiting. Endless waiting. The night dragged on as they sat in the waiting room silently. Wolford’s leg continued to bounce nervously as he stared at the floor. Judy’s mind rested on how Fangmeyer looked in the view of the camera with a half-dozen holes in her back. It all happened so fast, Judy could not believe what she had seen until she saw it all for herself.

“How much longer?” Wolford spoke up eventually. Judy sighed and shook her head solemnly.

“She’s in surgery, Maxwell. Could be through the night,” Judy guessed. Wolford resumed his quiet skulk and bouncing leg, staring at the ground impatiently.

Judy could not blame him for looking at the floor, because sitting across from them was a tall male tiger with a similar look of dread on his face. He seemed calmer than Wolford, but no less shaken by what happened. He was still in his work clothes, his tie pulled loose from his neck and his sleeves rolled up. She could only assume that this tiger was Fangmeyer’s husband. 

Judy looked up and noticed the chief leaning up against the wall by the door, silently pondering the events as well. This was not the first time he had gone through something like this, but Judy knew he and Fangmeyer went way back. How many friends has he buried, she thought?

“Excuse me,” the tiger spoke up eventually. Judy lifted her gaze and met his sad expression. He ventured a polite smile as best he could. “Are you Officer Hopps?”

“Yes,” she answered.

“Thomas Fangmeyer,” he introduced himself. “Kanya mentioned you occasionally over the past few nights. Said you were a tenacious cop,” he said, continuing to smile at her. Judy had to keep her lower lip from trembling as the bittersweet memory of her friend began to tug at her chest.

“I’m sure that she blamed me for being home late so often this week.” Judy tried her best to smile back.

“Nothing of the sort,” he assured her. “She has worked much later in the past. It’s part of the job. The boys think she’s a superhero, fighting crime at night from the tops of buildings and such.”

“She is a superhero,” Judy said confidently. “Though I can’t say she flies from rooftop to rooftop.”

“Hm,” Thomas smiled. “The boys are fans of yours as well, did you know?”

“Fangme . . . Kanya mentioned that before, yes. I’m not as brave as their mother,” she said sadly.

“Right now they’re asleep at my sister’s place,” he explained. “They’d be tickled to meet you sometime. I would love to invite you over for dinner, under different circumstances.”

His smile faded and he ventured a glance at the doors that led to the ER. Judy could not imagine the difficulty this poor tiger was facing. Should the worst happen, he would need to wake up his two boys and try to explain to them how their mother would not be returning. The thought alone brought Judy’s lip to a mild tremble again.

“Hey,” she said softly, regaining his attention. “If you ever need anything, if there is anything we can do to help, let me know.”

He did not smile this time. He kept his features cold, pondering her words and folding his paws together over his knees. His eyes drifted aimlessly at the floor as he considered her offer. Finally, he found her gaze again and tightened his lips.

“You can catch the guy who did this to my wife,” he said softly. Judy’s expression darkened as she gave him a hard look, taking his request more seriously than anything she had ever been charged with. When she joined the force, she made a vow to serve and protect the public, and she promised her parents that she would make them proud. But this duty was far and away the most important she ever took on.

“I will,” she promised. He nodded lightly, silently expressing his gratitude. He did not look like the vengeful type to Judy. But no matter what happened with Fangmeyer, this tiger deserved justice.

Judy caught Chief Bogo looking at her sternly from down the hall. His gaze conveyed a reminder not to make promises that she could not keep. But there was no need to worry. Judy would keep this promise if it was the last thing she did.

Judy rose to her feet and made her way down the hallway to join the chief. She leaned against the wall next to where he was standing and they stood quietly for a moment. The chief did not even acknowledge her presence for a while. Her thoughts began to drift back to Fangmeyer.

“This was supposed to be me,” she pondered. She was so absent-minded that when the chief responded, she was startled a little. She did not even realize she had spoken her last thought out loud.

“You don’t know that,” he tried to reassure her.

“Chief, I spoke with him,” she explained. “I was on the phone with Fangmeyer when I saw it happen. He picked up her phone and told me it was supposed to be me.” 

Chief Bogo pondered her statement for a moment and resumed his stale gaze at the wall opposite them.

“If that’s the case,” he said, “then it’s the reason Fangmeyer has any hope at all.” Judy looked up at him, her ears drooping over her shoulders with a passive confusion on her face. “The rounds he used were small caliber. Custom-made, so we can’t track them, but small. You would have been dead after the first shot. Fangmeyer’s got a fighting chance,” the chief reassured her. 

His words were hopeful, but his tone remained dark. As chief, he had lost friends before, and Judy guessed that six bullets in the back were not something mammals came back from.

“She was their first choice, you know,” Bogo murmured softly. Judy’s ear rose a little and turned upwards to observe him closely. He was still dark and remorseful, his eyes no longer bearing the fire they usually carried with them.

“Sir?” she asked, unsure of what he was talking about.

“City Hall,” he clarified. “They asked her to be chief before they asked me. She was their first choice.”

Judy became very quiet again, not daring disturb his thoughts. He was actually sharing something with her, which was certainly a first. Out of respect, she treaded softly. It felt as though a very rare bird landed on her palm. She spoke slowly so as not to scare it away.

“She refused?” she asked.

“Mmm,” he said with a subtle nod. “She said she loved being in the field too much. I told her she was crazy, of course, turning down an opportunity like that. But she asked me to think about what it would be like watching officers be out on the beat from the sidelines. What good is a chief when bullets start to fly? After that, I have to admit that when they offered the job to me, I almost turned them down as well.”

Judy’s ears were down over her back as she observed the mournful buffalo remember his friend. Bogo was going to be the source of strength in the precinct if they lost Fangmeyer, which looked painfully likely. Perhaps he was expressing himself to her quietly now because he would not be able to later.

“I’m glad you didn’t,” Judy said with a slight smile. He finally looked down at her with an eyebrow raised. “You’re a great chief. And, with all due respect, I’d rather be in the field with Fangmeyer any day.”

Bogo cracked a slight smile. “So would I,” he said, before his gaze hardened. He looked over his shoulder, making sure that none of the others in the waiting room were listening in on their conversation. After he was satisfied they would not be bothered, the chief knelt down and moved closer to Judy.

“Hopps,” he began quietly. “Where were you this afternoon?” Judy frowned, knowing full well she could not hide anything from the chief when he asked her outright. She would have to tread very carefully to give him enough but not force his hand and tell the ZBI about what she found.

“Chasing a lead in the Rainforest District,” she said.

“A lead,” Bogo echoed. 

Judy nodded, not daring explain any further. “Sir, there are things I need for this lead, and I need your clearance on them.”

Bogo frowned. “What kinds of things?” he asked.

“Restricted resources,” she ventured. Bogo shook his head and spoke coldly.

“You need to be more specific, Hopps.” He did not look angry, which was a good sign, but he did not look particularly thrilled about playing cat and mouse with the truth. Judy thought carefully about what Fangmeyer had told her. She said the chief would understand and that he would side with his own when given the option. Judy decided to trust in Fangmeyer.

“I need surveillance gear. Wiretaps, scopes, infrared, and access to the restricted weapons cache,” she counted off on her fingers. She kept her gaze with Bogo, dancing around the question of ‘why’ as best she could.

“That’s a tall order, officer,” he stated. She nodded and moved in a little closer, speaking in a hushed whisper and maintaining a serious expression.

“I also need some officers,” she stated and folded her hands behind her back.

“Officers?” Bogo repeated. “I need details, Hopps.”

“I need Wolford, Grizzoli, Delgato, and Snarlof,” she counted off. Judy was nervous now. Her request was extremely bold coming from a simple officer. Even after compiling evidence on a case for weeks, a request like this had to come from a lieutenant or a higher-ranking officer before it got to the chief. It was a bit like a deckhand asking the admiral for ships without telling him why.

“Hm,” he groaned as his brow furrowed, speaking deliberately and slowly. “Those officers are all T.U.S.K. certified.”

“Yes, sir,” she said softly. She was now officially putting her investigation, perhaps her career, on the line. If Bogo told the ZBI about this request for additional officers and resources, they would soon find out all of her evidence thus far.

“Hopps,” he said with a sour look. “I need more than nothing.”

“I . . . I’ve got a blue flower petal,” she ventured carefully. Bogo’s eyebrows rose in an honest look of surprise.

“Blue flower,” he began. “Could it be . . .”

“It’s unconfirmed,” she clarified.

He placed a hoof on his forehead, rubbing his brow thoughtfully as she waited for his response. Judy could tell he did not enjoy the position she was putting him in.

She never gave much thought to how difficult it would be to be chief. There was an element of diplomacy and tact that regular officers did not need to worry about. Every one of his decisions needed to be justified in the eyes of the City Hall, the courts, and the public. It was tremendous pressure that did not give him very much flexibility. Judy always considered becoming chief to be the ultimate achievement for her career, a duty she would be honored to fulfill one day. But after seeing how little the chief could do to help, she began to think that perhaps she would follow in Fangmeyer’s footsteps. She was in love with the field as well. Judy hesitated to add any more, fearing that saying too much would force his hand.

Before Bogo could ask any other questions, the doors to the ER opened. The chief stood and wore a solemn look on his face, and Judy turned with her ears at full attention. The doctor that walked into the waiting room was a gazelle wearing scrubs and a medical mask around his neck. Judy was furiously studying his expression for any clue as to what news he would bring.

“Mr. Thomas Fangmeyer and Police Chief Bogo?” he asked the room. Thomas stood and walked forward, joining the chief in front of the room. “If I may have a word with both of you,” he said and ushered them farther down the hallway.

Judy inwardly cursed as she watched with wide eyes and a fearful frown as they made their way out of earshot. Judy could pick up bits and pieces of the conversation, but they spoke in hushed tones that made it difficult for her to piece anything together. It was agony trying to observe their expressions from a distance as the doctor explained things to them both. The other officers each stood and joined Judy, looking at them impatiently.

The conversation did not last very long. She heard Thomas choke back a soft sob and the doctor left them both alone. The chief placed a paw on Thomas’s shoulder and said something quietly to him Judy could not hear. Her heart began breaking as she watched Thomas wipe tears off of his face, nodding and thanking the chief for his support.

Finally, after another moment, the chief turned and walked back to the waiting area and faced his officers. He raised a paw and spoke loudly and clearly, as if addressing the bull pen.

“She’ll pull through,” Bogo said.

A wave of comforting relief washed over Judy like warm bathwater on a cold day. She let out a  
sigh that nearly ended up with tears of her own. That same wave of relief seemed to cascade over the officers around her. Wolford placed a paw over his eyes and sighed loudly, his tail twitching slightly with happiness.

“The doctors did say she’s sustained some nerve damage to her spine, and there’s a chance it’s permanent. We won’t know whether or not she’ll be returning to the force until after her physical therapy begins, but the doctors are optimistic. She will have a long road to recovery and will likely be in a wheelchair for the next few months, but with some luck she’ll be back with us before summer,” Bogo explained. 

That news received a few claps and a cheer from the officers around her. Judy choked on what was both a laugh and a sob. She observed Thomas Fangmeyer at the other end of the hallway, who was leaning up against the wall with a paw over his eyes, quietly crying. Judy noticed his mouth curled upward in a thankful smile.

“Can we go talk to her?” Wolford asked. Bogo shook his head.

“They are going to keep her under for the next day or so. Waking her up now would cause her agonizing pain, so right now she needs rest more than she needs any of us,” he explained. “We’re very lucky that whoever did this used small caliber rounds.”

At the mention of Fangmeyer’s attacker, the officers grew quiet and fierce. Wolford’s lip trembled a little bit as he fought back a growl. Timberwolves often wore their hearts on their sleeves, so the stereotype went. Maxwell was a perfect example.

“What’s the play, Chief?” one of the officers asked. Everyone’s ears were now forward and at attention, including Judy’s. Bogo shot Judy one quick glance before returning his attention to the group of officers present.

“Pay attention, because the rest of the precinct will need to hear this too,” he began. “Starting now, Precinct 1 is officially on code black. Get yourselves some coffee because everyone pulls double duty. No one goes anywhere alone, not even driving home, understand? I want round the clock reports on suspected sightings on Victor Pumar. Every lead gets hunted down, even the whispers. This is priority numbers one, two and three.”

Judy saw the fire ignite behind the eyes of her fellow officers. She was by far the shortest mammal on the force, but in that moment they all stood eye to eye. It was official policy that no case be given special treatment over personal vendettas. But when an officer was hurt or killed, that policy flew right out the window.

“Higgins, McHorn!” he ordered. The two officers present stood tall and at attention when their names were called. “You two are on the crime scene. Get back to the Meadows and start plugging the locals. Find out where our mountain lion went to.” The two officers nodded and made their way out the door.

“Officer Trunkaby! Go wake up Pawson and get to precincts 2 and 3. Give them a full briefing and start setting up around-the-clock traffic camera surveillance. I want every camera surveyed from now until we have Pumar in chains.” The male elephant saluted and turned to leave behind the other two thus far.

“Clawhauser,” Bogo said and pointed to Judy’s side. She had not even realized that Clawhauser was in the waiting room with them. She supposed she was a little distracted with thoughts of Fangmeyer to notice her friend walk in.

“I want you to get the word out to the other officers. Anyone not working double shifts is on one now. Keep their current partners and set up a grid search, starting in the Meadows and moving west. Clear?”

“Yessir,” he said dutifully and saluted as well. Judy caught the shortest glance from Clawhauser before he began making his way out as well. Only a handfull of officers were left in the waiting room now, and Judy was standing in front of each of them.

“The rest of you,” Bogo continued. “Grizzoli, Wolford, Delgato, and Snarlof. You will be our search block. Your team will be hunting down our current leads. You’ve got full clearance on any and all resources necessary. Officer Hopps is your team lead. As of this moment, she’s in charge. Any questions?”

Judy was a little dumbfounded, but found herself shaking her head confidently all the same. Thankfully, none of the other officers voiced an ounce of complaint. They each stood tall, Wolford offering a salute, and Bogo nodded with satisfaction.

“Good,” he ordered. “I have to get word out to the other precincts that we have a cathunt on our hands. Remember, not a word about this to the press.”

With that, the large cape buffalo walked through his officers and headed for the door himself. Judy was beside herself, silently thanking Fangmeyer for her advice as well as the chief for having faith. The other officers were now looking at her with an eager spirit in their eyes. She looked at each of them, giving them a knowing nod.

She surveyed her team, which was now officially hers thanks to the chief. Wolford was familiar enough, so she would partner with him. Delgato, a large male lion, had sharp eyes and a keen mind for detective work. Snarlof, a male polar bear, was an expert in raids and would prove invaluable during a ground assault when the time came. Grizzoli, another timberwolf, had a great nose, second only to Wolford. After giving her new team a quick scan, she clapped her paws together and addressed her squad.

“If you need coffee, dinner, or breakfast, now’s the time to get it in your system. Call your families and say you’ll be working until further notice,” she began, speaking loudly and clearly. “We’ve got a lead, and we’ll be tracing out potential spots where our shooter might be hiding. Once we’ve found potential spots, we’ll be searching them all until we find him. Meet at the precinct in 20. Everyone clear?” she asked.

“Yes, ma’am,” Wolford said, giving her a quick wink of approval. The others nodded confidently and the sight filled her with pride. She walked with purpose towards the hospital doors, feeling ready to take on the world. She could not help herself from smiling ever so subtly. Pumar should be quivering in fear if he knows what is coming for him, she thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome readers from ZNN, and my biggest thanks to the folks there for featuring my story. I hope I don't disappoint. 
> 
> This is a shorter chapter, to be fair, but the next two are particularly long and they will come out on time for the next 2 Sundays, so never fear. I am loving reading everyone's theories as to what's going to happen next! Some very interesting ideas get thrown out there. Whomever gets it the most right, I'll certainly give them a shoutout at the end of the story.
> 
> Thanks for reading.


	12. An Act

 

The team set to work as soon as they came into the precinct. Now that Judy had a real squad that was sanctioned by the chief, there was no need to look over their shoulders or hide. They sat in one of the conference rooms with the projector running from a specialized computer normally reserved for homicide detectives. The image on the projector was a map of the northeast side of the Rainforest District, where they suspected Nick and the others to have escaped camera tracking by staying high in the canopy. 

 

“Hopps?” Delgato asked from his seat with a raised paw. “Is there a chance they split up?”

 

“Good question,” Judy nodded. “While it is possible they fled to different locations, if they did that then all we need to do is catch one of them and we’ll have leverage over the others. Our suspicion is that they’ve now met up and are hiding out in the same location.”

 

Judy had explained as much as she could without divulging her recent activities behind the ZBI’s back. These officers were good mammals, but they did not volunteer to help her secretly and risk their careers for Nick’s sake. She wanted to avoid clueing them in on something that might incriminate them if the ZBI caught wind.

 

“How do we know there will only be four of them?” Grizzoli asked.

 

“We don’t,” Judy confessed. “But we can be absolutely positive that Pumar is currently working with at least three others. One of whom, as you all know, is Officer Wilde.”

 

Now came the time to address the five-ton whale in the room. Wolford was the only one who knew any details about Nick’s predicament. They each dropped their pencils and looked up at her expectantly, afraid to touch a sensitive subject. But there was no avoiding the issue. They would be raiding a criminal den with a coworker inside, after all.

 

“Officer Wilde’s involvement is still unconfirmed,” she said carefully. “We believe he is operating on the inside as an infiltrator on his own volition. If we believe there is even a one percent chance that Nick is conning Pumar, we have to operate as if that were true. Which is why, when we move in, we’ll be using non-lethals.”

 

“Do you have any idea why Wilde might have done this without informing anyone at the precinct?” Snarlof asked in his low, booming voice. Judy wanted to shrug her shoulders. The honest truth was that none of her theories seemed any more likely than the other.

 

“We can ask him that when we catch him,” Judy said confidently. “Now, so far we’ve identified two likely areas.” She gestured to the map displayed on the wall with her laser pointer. She circled both areas in question, both only about a block wide.

 

“You think they could have jumped?” Wolford suggested. “The river flows right under the tree line in that area.”

 

“True,” Judy noted. “But look at where they could have gone from there. The river flows south, and that area is littered with cameras. I doubt they would have taken that risk in the middle of the day.”

 

“What about that spot?” Delgato asked. Judy tossed him the laser so that he could be more specific. He caught it with a swipe of his agile paw and pointed towards the far west side of the map. He drew a circle in the map along what looked like a bright white line that cut through the canopy.

 

“The train runs right through the trees along that line. I’m pretty sure it stays above the cameras as well. If they hopped off the trees over there, they could have walked up along the tracks to this tree over here.”

 

Judy watched as Delgato pointed out a tree that grazed the train tracks very closely and loomed over the river. The lion’s idea began to make sense to her. This would give them the opportunity to walk along the train tracks to a tree that was surrounded by cameras without ever being seen entering.

 

“I agree, Delgato,” Judy confirmed, before addressing the room. “Anyone else have other ideas?” After a short moment of silence with a few idle head shakes, Judy decided it was time to begin moving forward.

 

“Alright,” she started, “I want reports on every building in the areas we’ve narrowed down so far. I want to know every resident, business, and land owner on all of them. Delgato and Snarlof, you take the first area since that one is the largest. Grizzoli, you take the second. Wolford, you’re on the third. Reports on my desk in one hour, clear?”

 

“Yes, ma’am,” her team confirmed and one by one stood up and headed for their desks. All but Wolford, who looked tired but determined, headed for the door. They spent most of the night worrying about Fangmeyer, and there was no time for breaks now. The white timberwolf placed his paws on his hips and furrowed his brow thoughtfully.

 

“You don’t think they would have found a new place to hide?” he asked. “If he’s smart, Pumar will have moved his team after shooting Fangmeyer.”

 

“I don’t think so,” Judy nodded. “They’ve got the supplier, the product, and the ZBI chasing their tails. All they need now is the money to come in. My guess is that money is the only reason bombs have not gone off yet.”

 

“I get it,” Wolford agreed. “As soon as the money’s in, they’ll make the final move and skip town. Until then, they sit tight and try not to get caught.”

 

“Exactly,” Judy reasoned. “That could be at any time, so we need to move fast.”

 

“Okay. I’ll get right on that report. What are you going to do until then?” Wolford asked. 

 

She smirked and placed a paw on her hip where her tranq rested.

 

“I’m headed downstairs for some much-needed practice.”

 

The firing range was in the basement of the precinct near the weapons cache. It was a long gray tunnel with walled-off stations where officers could get some target practice with the various weapons available to them. The standard issue arsenal included a tranquilizer handgun along with a laser-guided taser gun. 

 

Now, though, Judy had unrestricted access to the more powerful weaponry. She walked through the short hallway of the weapons cache, passing by high-powered rifles and automatic machine guns meant for mammals four times her size and finding the corner where they kept her baby.

 

In order to get T.U.S.K. certified, she needed a weapon built for a mammal her size. The administration decided it was not worth giving her a firearm, since the rounds she could use without getting kicked off her feet would be too small to be much use against a larger mammal. Instead, they ordered a custom-built assault tranquilizer rifle straight from Smith and Weasel. It was sleek, powerful, and just her size.

 

“There you are,” she murmured as she picked it up, slinging the strap over her shoulder and heading for the ammunition depot. The large elk behind the counter working the night shift nodded at her as she approached. The chief must have given him a heads up, because he looked as if he was expecting her. He did not say a word, instead fishing out a large tray of 

dummy tranquilizer rounds and placing it on the table for her.

 

“Thank you,” she said and gathered all the materials and some ear protection before heading over to an open station. 

 

To her surprise, there was one other mammal on the range, from the sounds of sporadic gunfire bouncing off of the walls. Then again, every officer was now performing double duty thanks to Pumar’s attack. It was not all that odd for an officer with the night shift to want some time blowing off some steam and getting some practice. They were on code black, after all. 

 

She began performing her weapons check at her station. It was satisfying to hear the metal parts slide and click into place. She loaded a full clip of darts into the magazine and set her targets. She decided on medium-sized targets, since Pumar was the largest one among her suspects. The bigger the cat, the easier the target. She set the target back 30 meters and cross-checked for any mammal downrange before letting her first shot fly. 

 

Her first shot was a little high. She was eager and a little shaky, so she breathed calmly and let the next shot surprise her. This one found its mark on the target’s rib area. Each shot was accompanied by a satisfying puff of compressed air as the dart flew out of the muzzle and collided with the target with an audible tack. She was not nearly as good a shot as Nick was, but her rounds found their mark more often than not.

 

As she continued to send rounds downrange, she thought back to her first time practicing with Nick. He had been still fresh out of the academy, and she foolishly thought she would be teaching him how things were properly done. As it turned out, he was a gifted marksman and took no time rubbing it in.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

“What was that, Carrots?” he asked her after scoring a 27/30 on his first target at 20 meters. He had his usual infuriatingly smug grin on his face as she collected her jaw off of her station table. “I can’t hear you over the sound of darts hitting three 9s in a row.”

 

“Beginner’s luck!” she scolded him and loaded in another dart. “Best two out of three.”

 

They went round by round for another six clips, and each time Nick scored at least seven points higher than her. It did not matter the distance, the size of the target, or who went first. At one point she was so frustrated she demanded they swap tranqs, claiming hers must have been faulty somehow. Everytime, without fail, Nick came out on top wearing his half-lidded smile.

 

“Another round, Carrots? Beginner’s luck feels good,” he gloated and pulled his ear protection around his neck. She hadn’t responded, instead looking down range with a frustrated sigh and a look of failure plastered on her face. Nick had noticed her frustration, knowing she hated feeling like a failure at anything. It was true that she was excited to teach Nick all about being a cop, but in that moment she had felt a little useless.

 

“Hey, listen, Carrots, don’t take it so hard,” he consoled her and joined her at her station. “I’ve got the lights dimmed and the eyes of a fox. It’s practically cheating.”

 

“I know, Nick. I just need to be better than this,” she said, glaring at her target score.

 

“Don’t be so harsh on yourself, Fluff. You’re acting like you didn’t just score an 86% at 20 meters. That’s well above regulation standards.”

 

“Nick, I know things have gotten better since my first case, but I’m still the only bunny on the force. People are still expecting me to slip up somewhere. I need to prove to them that a bunny can do well in anything,” she said with a sigh. Her frown was clearly not something Nick would stand for. She could still remember the sorry expression on his face as clear as day.

 

“Would it help if I gave you some pointers?” Nick asked.

 

“Nick,” she said and rolled her eyes. “Don’t patronize me.”

 

“I’m not, Hopps. I mean it,” he said softly. He had genuine concern on his face. She was skeptical, but nodded all the same.

 

“Load another dart,” he said, and she followed his lead. She aimed her weapon downrange and lined up her next shot. He observed her for a quick moment with a paw to his chin. He looked her up and down at noticed how she lined up her shot.

 

“You’re trying too hard,” he said calmly. Judy gave an exasperated scoff and looked at him with an unimpressed glare. “Trust me, Carrots. Take aim again,” he said and she did as he asked, albeit reluctantly.

 

She felt his paw gently lay on her shoulder as he knelt down beside her. He lowered his face right beside hers, the fur on his cheeks grazing hers. She felt his other paw rest on her left elbow and carefully caress it into a looser state.

 

“Relax this arm,” he said, looking down the sights with her. “All your strength against the kick should be from the other arm. This one is just a gentle guide.”

 

Judy did as he suggested, letting her left arm loosen. Her aim veered to one side for a moment as she got used to the sensation. She narrowed her focus as she aimed for the dead center of her target.

 

“Don’t squint,” he said. “Your eyelids will shake slightly, that’ll throw off your consistency. Just let your eyelids fall a little, as if you’re about to fall asleep.”

 

“Huh,” she smirked. “You mean like how your eyes look whenever you give me that smug smile?”

 

“Exactly, now you’re getting it,” he commended her. “Now, squeeze slowly. Don’t command the dart to fly. Let the shot surprise you.”

 

Judy breathed out slowly, letting her features relax and allowing her finger to close around the trigger naturally. The shot did indeed surprise her. The dart sailed up for a brief moment before arching back down and smacking on the target, earning her a nine for the shot. She could feel Nick’s cheek curve upward against hers as he smiled. The act made her smile as well. She could feel how warm he was from how closely he stood, and it offered her a heavenly sense of comfort. She would not realize it until later, but she was beginning to fall for him all the way back then.

 

“Thanks,” she said and leaned her head up against the side of his cheek. He smiled a little wider at her gesture, giving her shoulder a light squeeze before letting her go.

 

“Anytime, fluff-butt. Pretty soon you’ll see some beginner’s luck, too,” he said with his cheeky smile back on his face.

 

“Don’t get cocky, Slick.”

 

* * *

 

 

Judy held her assault tranq up against her shoulder firmly with her right arm, holding the muzzle up gently with her left. She let her eyes naturally droop down for the longer shot and kept her breathing slow and relaxed. She relaxed her finger over the trigger, gently pressing down and letting the last dart in her clip fly. It hit the target firmly, grazing one of the other darts she fired before with a satisfying clink.

 

She stood back up and surveyed her work: 93% from 30 meters. Nick would be proud, or he would at least give her some snarky remark about how her ears flopped around with every shot. 

 

It was a cold thought that occupied her mind, knowing that soon she may need to be firing her rifle at the fox who taught her how to shoot properly.

 

No. It would not come to that. He would turn on Pumar when she found him, and together they would take him down. It would likely be some time after that, explaining the situation to Internal Affairs and perhaps a prosecutor, but no matter who got in her way she would deal with it. 

 

She made a promise to herself that she would find him and bring him home alive. She would feel the warmth of his tail on her toes again and see that smug smile of his when she awoke. She would laugh at his ridiculous jokes again, and she would see him look at her with that rare but genuine smile he saved just for her in their most private moments. 

 

She had come to adore that fox, and every moment without him made her yearn for those things more and more.

 

Before she removed her eye protection, she heard a series of cracks cut through the air. She startled with a jump as the sound of more shots rang out in the emptiness of the range. Daydreaming made her forget for a moment that she was not alone. She dared a glance to her side, the competitiveness in her spirit urging her to compare her score to that of the other shooter on the range. She looked down to one side to get a better look at the other officer’s target, when she gasped.

 

Targets were in the shapes of vague silhouettes with no details on species, to avoid any sense of bias on the force. But this target had fox ears and snout drawn hastily on the head with black marker. The shots rung out with alarming accuracy, cutting a sizeable hole in the fox’s face.

 

Judy placed her weapon down on the station table and took a few steps back, trying to get a look at who was with her on the range. After noticing the black pant leg as she approached, it did not take long for her to piece together who it was. There were only so many black suits that were bunny-sized.

 

She began observing Agent Jack Savage a little more closely. He had a focused squint in his eyes, concentrated on the target down range. The gun in his paws was a large caliber firearm for a bunny. Each magazine only held six slugs in it, so after each clip emptied he mashed his thumb on the release and tossed the empty one to his side before quickly loading a new one in with a snap.

 

The sounds of live gunfire were more jarring and angry than her tranq rifle. The kick moving down his arm was more violent, and the flashes of fire coming from the muzzle lit up his face for a brief moment. Each shot was a life taken, and it made Judy’s fingers clench in her paws.

 

He finished the last clip, placing the safety on the weapon and setting it down before relaxing his stance. Judy could tell by the bags under his eyes that he was as tired as she was; the investigation had taken its toll on both bunnies. It was very early in the morning, and the fact that he was in the range meant he had time away from his team that he’d rather spend practicing than sleeping.

 

He leaned up against the wall of his station as he called the target back. He was weary, but his expression remained cold and apathetic as always. She swallowed an angry growl. Jack had filled both its chest and head with the contents of four clips. 

 

He looked over his shoulder lightly, not saying a word but quietly acknowledging her presence. Judy first thought he was toying with her, but she realized he must have drawn the fox’s ears on before he knew she was down there. He was blowing off steam.

 

Judy did not speak to him. She simply turned and gathered her things from her station and left the quiet rabbit to his own misery.

 

* * *

 

 

Judy and Wolford drove along in a cruiser disguised as a regular sedan towards the northeast area of the Rainforest District. The others broke off into teams to inspect the other areas of interest. Their orders were reconnaissance only and to avoid traffic cameras when possible. It would be difficult to stay awake for an early morning stakeout after the night they all had, but Judy was confident they would be finding something soon.

 

She yawned all the same.

 

“You feeling up to this?” Wolford asked from the driver’s seat.

 

“Hm?” she said and looked back at him wearily. “Yeah. It’s been a long night for everyone, but if stopping a Nighthowler bomb from going off in Savannah Central means keeping my eyes open, I think I’ll manage.”

 

“Yeah,” Wolford agreed. He pulled the car up to the base of a tree that sat on the opposite side of the street from their current target. Wolford’s research revealed the building to be an older research facility currently owned by the government. Its original purpose was to monitor purity levels in the rainwater that pumped through the entire Rainforest District, but the organization responsible for it moved to a different location towards Tujunga Bridge. The old building now remained on the books but was lightly used.

 

“Should be on the other side of this tree right here,” Wolford said and got out of the car. She followed him and placed a paw on the trunk of the tree in question. “I think we’ll get a good view from higher up. You got the sound gear?”

 

“Yeah,” Judy nodded and hoisted the equipment over her shoulder.

 

“You sure it wouldn’t be easier just to knock?” he asked, as the tree they needed to climb looked a little daunting from the bottom.

 

“We can’t risk them knowing we’re looking for them, and if they’re in there we won’t be able to take them without the rest of the team,” she explained. 

 

Wolford nodded and began to hoist himself up the large pillar by holding onto the vines that covered the bark. Judy waited for him to get a few feet up before placing the equipment over her back and hoisting herself up the first step. She made it half a step higher before her phone rang.

 

Wolford looked down at her, curious to see if she would answer. She fished out her phone, holding onto the tree with one paw. She saw the loving smiles of her mother and father peering at her on the call screen. There was a chance they caught wind of the shooting from the previous night and were worried. She needed to remember to call them in times like that before they had the chance to panic. 

 

“It’s my parents,” she said with a sigh.

 

“Go for it,” Wolford said and waved her off. “I’ll get everything set up there and you can join me when you’re done.”

 

“Ok,” she said, stepping off the tree. She threw him the sound equipment and he slung the bag over his shoulder. She watched him continue to ascend with ease, making it halfway before she answered her phone. She decided a voice call was a better idea, lest her parents see the bags under her eyes.

 

“Hi, Mom,” she answered as cheerily as she could.

 

“Oh,” her mother sighed in relief. “I got her, Stu. Hi, honeybun. Are you doing alright?” she asked with concern dripping from her voice.

 

“I’m okay, Mom. What’s wrong?” said Judy.

 

“We just heard on the news that there was a shooting last night and that an officer was in critical condition,” her mother explained. Judy relaxed her voice and smiled a little at her family’s concern.

 

“I’m just fine, Mom. Tell Dad there’s nothing to worry about,” Judy said.

 

“Do you know the officer who was hurt?” her mother followed. Judy frowned and looked at the ground. Her mother could not possibly know, but Judy kept finding ways of reminding herself that it was her fault Fangmeyer was attacked at all.

 

“Yeah,” she said softly.

 

“I’m so sorry, bun-bun,” her mother cooed. “Is he going to be alright? Have you heard anything from the hospital?”

 

“The doctors are hopeful,” Judy answered. “ _ She’ll _ have a lot of physical therapy and recovery to go through, but hopefully she’ll be back with us soon.”

 

“Oh, thank goodness,” her mother sighed. “Hearing things like this on the news does not do our hearts any good, you know . . . Hm? . . . Your father was wondering if it was Nick. You said ‘she’ so I expect not. Is he with you now?” she asked, hoping to lighten the mood.

 

“He’s . . .” she started, at a loss for what to tell her family. They all met him a few months earlier, and her mother thought very highly of him. Nick had even promised to come back with her for the upcoming Carrot Days festival to help out. Now it would be a miracle if he was not in prison by then.

 

“Honey?” her mother called back as her silence renewed her mother’s concern.

 

“Nick’s working on something else,” she answered. “Another assignment. It’ll be a little longer before we can really see each other again.”

 

“I’m sorry, Judy. I know you hate being separated from your partner. At least you’ll get to see him when you get home. Be sure to give him our love, okay?” her mother said.

 

“Okay, Mom,” Judy said softly back.

 

“Okay, sorry to interrupt your morning. We’re just so glad you’re okay. Love you.”

 

“Love you too,” she said and hung up. Her phone went black, and she stood there gazing at her reflection in the glass of her phone screen. Her eyes were not tired, like she expected. Instead, they were sad and hung low.

 

Her face disappeared as her phone lit up again, this time with a text from Wolford. Judy’s eyebrow cocked in confusion. She looked up at the tree Wolford had climbed up not three minutes earlier, but she could not see him. She opened the text, and this time both of her eyebrows shot up.

 

* _ Bring Baretta*  _ the message read.

 

Judy quickly stuffed the phone back into her pocket, circled around the car to the trunk and opened it up. Inside a black cloth case was a high powered long-range tranquilizer rifle that Wolford affectionately named ‘Baretta’. The rifle was too big for Judy to consider using but thankfully was not too heavy for her to carry.

 

She slung the case over her shoulder and began ascending the tree after Wolford. The vines along the bark were taught and firm, making the climb considerably easier. The large weapon on her back dangled about, so she was careful with every step to keep her balance. She continued to climb, making it well past three stories high before the tree curved outwards and she could almost walk up the rest of the way. Before long, she found Wolford lying low on the ground and peering through a small scope in his paw.

 

Judy was about to speak, but Wolford silenced her with a finger to his lips and ushered her to join him by the scope. She crouched down and laid the rifle beside Wolford before lowering herself to a crawl beside him.

 

“Did you see something?” she whispered. He didn’t answer, only handing her the scope and pointing to the tree across the street. He began to unzip Baretta from her case and performed a quick weapons check.

 

Judy peered through the scope and looked across the street at their target building. She found the first floor along the road to be nothing special. The rest of the building was built into the massive tree with windows scattered in odd areas, facing all directions. She heard the rolling thunder of a train approaching. For a moment, one side of the building lit up as a commuter train bound for Savannah Central passed by the building on the backside.

 

“Top floor, second window to the right,” Wolford whispered to her as he peered through the scope on his rifle. Judy continued to search for the spot Wolford mentioned, much of the building shrouded with branches and leaves. After another moment of searching, she found the window he was talking about. She could see clearly a lit room that looked like a lounge with a small kitchenette and sofa. One mammal was currently washing his paws at the sink with his back turned, but no others were visible. His fur was a familiar pattern of spotted brown.

 

“I think that’s Terrence,” Wolford explained, looking at the same window through the scope of his weapon. Judy waited another moment, and the mammal turned his head, facing Judy’s direction with a tired look on his face.

 

“That’s him,” Judy confirmed, watching him closely. “Take a look at the building and mark the exits. We’ll get a blueprint of each floor before we breach.”

 

“I count . . . four total, two on the first floor, one on the fourth along that large branch. I’d bet that’s where they came in,” Wolford noted.

 

“What about the fourth exit?” Judy asked, keeping her eye on Terrence as he finished preparing what looked like a meager breakfast.

 

“Probably a failsafe if they get desperate. They could jump from that balcony into the river,” Wolford said. Judy found the balcony he was talking about and peered through her scope to where it led. There was a long way down in between the road and the train tracks that eventually landed in the river, but she doubted any mammal would survive that fall. Still, they would not pick the location unless they had an emergency exit strategy.

 

“Holy shit. Hopps,” Wolford hissed. Judy quickly raised her scope back up to the window to see what scared Wolford so much. She found the same lounge area again, but this time Terrence was accompanied by another mammal, who seemed to take delight in bothering Terrence by talking his ear off. He had always been that way around mammals he was playing.

 

“ _ Nick _ ,” Judy breathed. 

 

There he was, as sure as day. He wore the same shirt as always, this time unbuttoned and exposing the fur on his chest. He had his trademark sly smile on his face as he chatted up a storm with a seemingly uninterested Terrence. Judy could almost feel the snarky comments he was surely making, and she could not hold herself from laughing lightly. She had finally found him.

 

His fur was ruffled and unwashed. His casual stride reminded her of the look on his face when they first met. He did not look as tired as she was, which meant they were confident enough in their hiding place to sleep. Nick loved sleeping in when he got the chance. She remembered coming home from a morning shift to find him still curled up in a ball on the bed, snoring happily. What she would give to crawl into that ball of fur again.  

 

“. . . Nick,” she whispered again, wanting more than anything to run to him in that moment. 

 

“How soon can we get the T.U.S.K. team ready to go?” Wolford asked. Judy snapped back to the reality of the situation, and the real danger her beloved fox was in.

 

“When is the next rain scheduled?” Judy asked.

 

“It’s a workday, so ten o’clock when everyone’s at work,” Wolford said.

 

“Then that’s our breach time,” she decided. She continued to watch Nick with unwavering focus as he sat himself down on the sofa and opened a laptop computer. Judy noticed the drive key plugged into the side, the same one he stole from his desk at work to give him access to the traffic cameras. Judy guessed he was keeping an eye on the cams right then, looking for any movement of ZPD or ZBI vehicles.

 

“Someone else is coming,” Wolford alerted. Judy looked to the side of the window, where she saw shadows moving around slowly. Both Terrence and Nick looked up at the newcomers. From the shadows, she guessed there were two of them. “Pumar?” Wolford asked.

 

“And Skye,” Judy agreed. Sure enough, former ZBI agent Skylar Frost entered her view as well. She was not wearing the same motorcycle suit she wore during their midtown chase. Rather, she wore a graphic t-shirt that looked a little large on her, nothing else. Judy’s fists balled up reflexively at the sight. It was the same t-shirt Judy saw Nick wear in her photograph from the day he left.

 

“Whew,” Wolford whistled, “I wouldn’t bring her home to meet Mother, but I’d bring her home.” 

 

Judy wanted to slug his shoulder, but she could not tear her gaze away from Nick for even a moment. He seemed less interested in Skye’s legs and more on his computer, thankfully. Terrence’s gaze stayed focused on whoever else entered the room, so she guessed that Pumar was in there with them.

 

“That’s it. We’ve got all four of them. I’ll go back to the precinct to get . . .” she trailed off as she watched the vixen approach Nick from behind. There was a certain sway to her hips that grinded Judy’s insides into a pulp. She wanted to call out, to tell the hateful vixen to stay away, but she could only watch.

 

Skye placed her arms around Nick’s neck, draping them down his open shirt and running her fingers through his fur. She began whispering something his ear, something that made him smile devilishly and made Terrence visibly cringe at the display. Judy’s paws were shaking, making it difficult to see through her scope. She held her breath as Skye placed one paw under Nick’s chin, gaining his full attention and pulling him in close. Their lips met.

 

_ It’s just an act,  _ she reminded herself.

 

“Grrrr,” Wolford snarled as he gripped his weapon tightly.

 

“Easy, Max,” Judy said, keeping her gaze on Nick. “It’s just an act.”

 

“ _ Judy _ ,” Wolford said with an exasperated sigh. He rarely used her first name.

 

“How else do you think Pumar came to trust Nick? He’s using her to gain their confidence. Foxes are hard to trust even among predators, so he probably needed her to vouch,” she explained.

 

“You can’t be certain of that, Hopps,” Wolford said. He dropped his weapon and looked at her with an almost mournful expression. She could see in his eyes that he was heartbroken on her behalf. It was a wasted effort. Her heart was just fine.

 

“It doesn’t matter right now anyway,” she reasoned. “We have their location and they have nowhere to go this time. I need you to stay here and keep a close watch on them. Keep your com-link up and feed us updates. I’ll be back when the rain starts with the team ready to go.”

 

“Don’t we still need to wait for the Nighthowler sample to be confirmed?” Wolford asked.

 

“I’ll call Remi and get him to get it done by 9:45. As soon as it’s confirmed, I’ll move in and call the chief for the green light. We should have them in cuffs before the ZBI leave the precinct.”

Judy placed the scope down beside Wolford and backed away from their perch, making sure none of their perps caught any movement from Wolford’s position. The white timberwolf continued to look at her with a sad expression, but he nodded dutifully all the same.

 

A rush of nerves swept over Judy as she made her way back down the tree carefully. No more investigating, no more clues, no more leads. Her next move would be a full-scale raid, and catching Nick alive was her number one priority. She found herself grunting as she held herself closely to the vines along the rough bark and leaves. She hit the ground with a thump and made her way back to the car, starting it up and placing her paws on the wheel.

 

“It’s an act,” she repeated.

 

She found herself squeezing the steering wheel with all her might. She clung to it as if the car might escape from under her and drive off without her, never to be seen again.

 


	13. Green Light

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will likely have another chapter for this next upcoming sunday, but after that I'll be taking another break to finish out the final act of this story and work through it with my editors before publishing each chapter. I want to make sure this story's ending is rounded off properly and to do that will take some time. I expect a mid-august release date for Chapter 15 and so on. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!

9:49am

Judy checked and re-checked her phone, waiting for the word from Remi in the lab. She stood outside the conference room where her squad of T.U.S.K.-certified officers waited for further instructions. Thankfully they had all been very cooperative and returned to the precinct without question. She had spent the last ten minutes preparing briefing materials, but that did little to calm her nerves.

9:50am

Her foot was thumping nervously. She went over the details of the next move in her head. Two minutes to prep, six minutes’ drive with the sirens on, and a two-minute raid, if she was lucky. That meant she would go from where she stood in the hallway at the precinct to putting cuffs on Victor Pumar in the span of ten minutes, with the possibility of hostile gunfire in between. It takes a lifetime to build a career, a home, a life to be proud of, but it only takes ten minutes for it all to change.

9:51am

Judy remembered the wildcard she was neglecting: the ZBI. She cursed and immediately began texting Clawhauser, who was waiting eagerly at his post at the front desk for more instructions. As she began typing her message, she noticed her thumbs were shaking. Her nerves were screaming at her to fight or flight, and she was only waiting for news.

* _ Keep the ZBI distracted if you can! 3 Minutes*  _ she texted the cheetah. 

She punched it in and hit send. She had no idea how Clawhauser would go about distracting agents who likely had little patience these days, but she was confident in his ability to entertain. He was a mammal’s mammal, so she could trust him with this.

* _ Done and done!*  _ his reply showed up on her screen a moment later. She would have smiled at his candor if she hadn’t been so twitchy.

9:52am

Just before she debated going down to the lab and demanding the report on the Nighthowler evidence from Remi in person, her phone lit up again and chimed with her xylophone ringtone. The number was blocked, which likely meant it was from the precinct. She quickly answered, her ears as stiff as boards.

“Officer Hopps,” she said eagerly.

“Hi Judy, it’s Remi,” the rat explained.  _ Yes I know,  _ she thought,  _ get to it. _ “Just wanted to let you know that I ran that flower petal you brought in yesterday.”

 

“And?” she asked impatiently.

“It’s Nighthowler, no question,” he said sternly.

“Thank you, Remi,” she said, hanging up without another word. No time for being polite right now. She took a deep breath, placed her phone in her pocket and entered the conference room. Her team quickly quieted themselves and looked at her expectantly. She admired their respect for the situation at hand.

“Everybody up,” she commanded. They were all standing within moments, giving her their full and undivided attention. “Get your breach gear on and meet at T.U.S.K. Truck Four. Full assault equipment, non-lethals only. You’ll be briefed on the way. Snarlof, you’re behind the wheel. Let’s move!”

She clapped her paws together, and just like that the squad began making their way to the restricted equipment lockers. Judy followed, collecting her custom rifle along with four clips of elephant-grade tranq darts. The rest of her gear was waiting for her in the lockers. As the only female on the T.U.S.K. team, she had the next 60 seconds all to herself to focus. She opened up her equipment locker and placed her cellphone inside before she began suiting up.

 

Her normal Kevlar vest fell to the floor as she replaced it with a plated combat vest that covered her lower extremities much more thoroughly. It also displayed a large ‘T.U.S.K.’ in bold white letters on either side. She threw a strap around her thigh that held two flash bangs designed to disorient the enemy before entering a room. She placed the extra clips in the pockets on her vest and strapped her kneepads on as well. 

 

The last piece was her helmet, meant to stop small-caliber rounds endlessly, and perhaps one or two larger rounds as well. It was large and cumbersome but was necessary for the incoming raid. She could hardly see with the goggles down, so she kept them up for now. A small microphone dangled by her mouth; she switched it on and heard a soft blip confirming her connection.

 

The entire time she prepped, she thought of Nick. He certainly had a lot of explaining to do, but perhaps this was what he was hoping for all along. She was about to catch all of them in the same place, without killing him in the process to boot. She had no doubt that once the raid began, he’d realize what was happening and turn on the conspirators. If she could catch him doing so, perhaps it would make his name easier to clear afterwards. She took one look at Nick’s face, smiling cheekily at her from the photo inside her locker.

 

“Here I come, honey,” she told him and closed the door.

 

The rest of her squad was already at the T.U.S.K. wagon, armed literally to the teeth and ready to go. The truck was a large, black armored van that could easily sit all of them. It came featured with tablets for mobile mission briefings. Those would come in handy.

 

“Ten-hut!” Grizzoli barked, and everyone stood at attention at the back door to the van. Right now there was no time to stand on ceremony, so she simply made her way inside the van with one brisk hop. The rest of the squad fell in behind her and strapped in. 

 

“Where to, Hopps?” Snarlof asked her from the driver’s seat.

 

“12-28 Bark Street, Rainforest District,” she ordered and grabbed a handle by the passenger seat. Her eyes took a moment to adjust as the van pulled out of the garage and into the street. 

 

As soon as they were clear of the precinct, Judy pulled out her phone and shot another message to Clawhauser.

 

* _ All clear. Keep Bogo’s line open. 4 min* _

 

She had the next four minutes to brief her team. By the time they crossed into the Rainforest District, they’d be in range of Wolford’s com-link and could get a situation report. Judy pulled out a tablet, signaling her team to do the same. Their heads swayed back and forth as the van sped down the road.

 

“Comms check,” Judy said, her voice echoing in her ears with an electrical hum.

 

“Check,” chimed in Grizzoli.

 

“Check,” Delgato followed.

 

“All good up here,” Snarlof said from the driver’s seat.

 

“Good. We’ve got four mammals in the building: One mountain lion, one ocelot, and two foxes. They are using an old government research building as a hideout, which we’re going to hit in five minutes. Take a look at the schematics here,” she explained, pulling up the building plans on her tablet. Her teammates looked down at their own tablets and observed the structure closely.

 

“I count two exits,” Grizzoli observed.

 

“Three, if you count the window to this branch here,” Delgato said.

 

“The four of us,” Judy continued, “will be entering in through the front entrance here. Wolford is currently on-site in sniping position. He’ll cover the third-floor branch exit while we storm them from the ground up. They are currently held up on the fourth floor.”

 

“What about this balcony out back?” Delgato asked. “Could they make a jump for the river?”

 

“It’s 90 feet to the river from there,” Judy answered. “If they jump, we’ll be fishing their broken remains from the water.”

 

“This is Victor Pumar, right? What kind of resistance are we expecting?” Snarlof asked.

 

“We need to assume Pumar and his compatriots are armed and dangerous. There’s no telling what an arms dealer keeps in his pocket, so don’t let him reach for it. Check your corners, keep your lines open, and don’t fire on Wilde, if you can avoid it. Everyone clear?”

 

“Why not tranq Wilde too?” Grizzoli asked. Delgato frowned and slugged the timberwolf on his shoulder.

 

“He means, ‘yes, ma’am’,” the lion said on behalf of both of them.

 

“Good,” Judy said with a nod. She glanced at the time again, keeping a firm hold on her handle as the van jostled about. Three minutes out. Judy leaned into her shoulder and cued the microphone on her radio.

 

“Officer Hopps to dispatch! I need a direct line to the chief,” she hailed. Not a moment later did Clawhauser respond, ready and eager.

 

“You got it, Hopps,” he responded. There was another moment of static, followed by the sound of Chief Bogo picking up his desk radio.

 

“Go for Bogo,” his deep voice boomed through the microphone.

 

“Chief,” Judy called back, “I’ve got a confirmed sample of Nighthowler contraband. We’ve traced the evidence to the Rainforest District, confirming the location of one Victor Pumar. Requesting the all-clear for a T.U.S.K. raid, over.”

 

It was probably only four or five seconds of silence before Bogo responded. That time, however, felt like an eternity to Judy, whose blood was pumping at full stop. The adrenaline and nerves were both like a drug and a poison in that moment. Even the sway of the van seemed to be slower somehow.

 

“Do you have a team assembled?” he asked in an overly formal tone. This conversation would probably be used as evidence later, and they were both aware of it.

 

“Yessir. We’re prepped, briefed, and ready to go,” she answered.

 

“I’ll need to inform the ZBI immediately,” he reminded her.

 

“Understood, sir!” said Judy, happy to know that her head start was working beautifully.

 

“Green light to engage, officer,” Bogo responded. “Backup will be on-site in six minutes.”

 

“Yessir,” she said, taking her finger off the microphone and looking back at her team. She gave them her best fired-up smile of determination, picking up her rifle that was slung over her shoulder and popping the magazine in. “Lock and load, gentlemammals!”

 

The van’s sirens blared to life as Snarlof veered down the tunnel that lead into the Rainforest District. The orange lights from the tunnel whipped by, sending stripes of light into the cabin. She heard the sounds of well-oiled assault rifles loading magazines and placing rounds in their chambers. Judy saw various vehicles swerve out of their way as they sped through the tunnel and out into the Rainforest District. As soon as they were clear of the tunnel, the pitter-patter of heavy rain filled the cabin with a loud barrage of water striking metal.

 

“Wolford,” she hailed into her mouthpiece, “do you copy? We need a sitrep.”

 

“Loud and clear, Officer Hopps. All four of our targets are still in the building. I’ve got eyes on Wilde and Terrence through the window leading out their potential exit through the trees.”

 

“Good,” she answered. “Keep that exit covered. If you see them try to make a run for it through the trees, open fire. ETA 90 seconds.”

 

“Roger that,” Wolford said confidently. Judy could hear him load in a round to his beloved Baretta through his com-link. Judy thanked her luck that none of their targets had left the building. She gripped the stock on her rifle a little closer to her chest as they rounded another corner.

 

“Whoa, we’ve got movement,” Wolford said suddenly. “I’ve got eyes on Wilde. He’s got his computer open. The others are shouting at each other.”

 

“Do you think they see us coming?” Judy asked, holding her mouthpiece closer.

 

“Affirmative, Terrence just pulled out a pistol. There goes our surprise.” he answered.

 

“They still don’t know you are watching them. If they try to leave the building, open up,” she ordered.

 

They turned the final corner and headed straight for the building. Snarlof hit the gas hard and the engine roared to life, fighting with the sirens for the attention of every mammal nearby. T.U.S.K. teams hardly ever operated quietly. They hit the target hard and fast before they had the opportunity to respond, and Judy’s plan was no different.

 

“Arrival in five!” she called out to her team, and they each flicked the safeties on their weapons off. Judy lowered the goggles off of her helmet and across her eyes. The truck shuddered once as Snarlof mounted the curb, then screeched to a halt just outside the building. “Let’s move!”

 

Judy, Grizzoli and Delgato exited the rear of the van while Snarlof flew out of the driver’s seat. The polar bear lifted a large ballistics shield with the word TUSK emblazoned on the front and held it at the ready. The rest of the team formed up behind him and approached the front door, except for Judy. She was already at the door, testing to see if it was locked.

 

“No good,” she barked. “Snarlof!”

 

The massive bear nodded and lunged forward, his shield held up to brace for impact. He grunted loudly as he struck the doors, making short work of them. It was like a truck had collided with the main entrance of the building as wood splintered and glass shattered in every direction. The other team members followed closely behind with their weapons raised and ready.

 

“Clear!” Grizzoli barked as they searched the main entryway, which resembled a small office reception. They began to move forward, Judy motioning for them to follow her closely as she led them towards the staircase behind the elevator.

 

“Updates, Maxwell,” Judy hissed as she closed in on the first staircase.

 

“They haven’t moved yet. Still arguing with each other. Pumar does not look too happy,” Wolford noted.

 

_ Good _ , she thought.  _ He should be nervous _ . Of course Nick had not turned on them yet, which would really get him angry. The last thing she wanted was to have Nick taken hostage if he blew his cover before she got there.

 

They found the door to the staircase and quickly made their way up, keeping their weapons pointed up as they rounded each flight. Judy announced their movement quietly so Wolford knew what their status was. The lights in the stairwell flickered and buzzed as their stomps filled the stairwell.

 

“Stop!” Delgato hissed, and Judy reflexively ducked low to the ground, keeping her rifle pointed forward. Her eyes darted from left to right, searching for whatever spooked her teammate. “We’ve got a device.”

 

Sure enough, Judy saw a large metal tube set with strings and wires in either direction. Even to a civilian, the device screamed ‘bomb’ in the most obvious way. It even had a blinking red light near the center. Judy backed away from the device slowly, cursing under her breath. They were only on the second floor, and their momentum had come to a halt.

 

“Back up,” she ordered, and her teammates followed suit. She turned and looked at the door to the second floor, deciding it best to find another way up. She motioned for Snarlof to perform another door breach on the second-floor door, and the polar bear lined up his stance with his shield out front.

 

“Wolford?” she asked quietly into her mouthpiece.

 

“They’ve each drawn weapons, three sidearm pistols and one full-auto for Pumar. Wilde is still on the computer. It’s like they’re waiting,” he commented.

 

Something was bothering Judy about the device. A bomb meant to catch police officers unawares would surely be better hidden. This one may as well have a giant sign that read ‘kaboom’. An experienced gunrunner would know not to build a weapon with so much flash.

 

_ Flash, _ Judy thought,  _ a little misdirection and flash. _

 

“Wait!” she hissed, motioning for Snarlof to hold his position. Judy quietly removed her helmet and held her ear against the door to the second floor. She listened carefully through the door for a moment, pressing her face harder against the metal surface.

 

There was a click followed by the sound of fizzing, like a freshly opened bottle of carrot cola.

 

“Get back!” she shouted and backed away from the door quickly. Her teammates practically leapt down the stairs from which they came, Judy hopping across the stairs in one long leap.

 

The door Judy had her face pressed against moments earlier exploded in a rage of light and white smoke. The blast kicked Judy off her feet, throwing her back against the wall. The others braced behind Snarlof, who had his shield up, bracing for impact. Judy groaned and shook her head, assessing the damage to her extremities.

 

She was intact, though a little shaken. Her teammates coughed and waved their paws around their mouths as the smoke entered the room. Judy realized her helmet was still in her paw, so she strapped it back on and turned her mouthpiece back on.

 

“What was that!?” Wolford asked frantically.

 

“A chlorine bomb,” Judy explained. “They set a trap against the door to the second floor. Status?” she asked her teammates. They each nodded, affirming they were good to go.

 

“Whatever it was, it got them worried. Terrence has his gun pointed out the door to the stairs. He looks like a nervous wreck. Wilde and Pumar are screaming at each other,” he said.

 

“What about the vixen?” Judy asked.

 

“No visual. I think she went onto the rear balcony.”

 

Judy originally thought that they were all smart enough not to make a jump for the river. The fall would likely kill them if it didn’t injure them too much to keep from drowning. But the vixen was gutsy, and when pressured she might suggest doing something rash. Judy looked at the timer on her wrist. Backup was two minutes out, and the ZBI were likely to be with them.

 

“Grizzoli, concussion grenades!” she ordered, and the timberwolf stepped forward. He unclipped a round ball of metal from the sling around his chest and awaited orders. “Bounce it off the wall and aim for the device. If it’s another bomb, that’ll take care of it. Everyone else, fall back behind Snarlof. Wolford, fire in the hole.”

 

Grizzoli nodded and stepped forward, peering up the stairwell to the landing above them. Judy and the others took shelter farther down, with Snarlof raising his shield towards the incoming explosion. Grizzoli judged the distance for a moment, then unclipped the pin from the grenade and tossed it upwards. It bounced off the wall and onto the floor above the team. Grizzoli sprinted back and took shelter as well.

 

They were prepared for this explosion. The boom echoed up and down the stairwell and shook the floor. The air filled with the same white smoke as before.

 

“Good throw,” Judy commended and raised her weapon. “Let’s move!”

 

They began to ascend again, this time passing by the charred residue where the bomb had been. Their weapons were pointed upwards again, Judy’s finger light on the trigger, ready to drop any mammal she saw.

 

The stairwell they were in only went to the third floor. The fourth floor, which was a lounge of some kind, was accessed by a second staircase up a narrow hallway. They would no doubt be waiting for them with more explosions or gunfire, so Judy proceeded carefully.

 

“We’re in position below the stairs to the fourth floor. What’s the word, Wolford?” she asked her eye in the trees.

 

“Terrence looks about ready to lose it. He’s poking his head through the door, looking down the stairs. He’s got his weapon drawn; do not advance. Pumar’s joined the vixen near the back,” Wolford explained.

 

“Do you have a shot on Terrence?” Judy asked.

 

“No, but I might have one on Wilde, if he steps away from his computer.”

 

“Don’t risk it,” Judy ordered. “If you drop one of them, they will hide from you, so you won’t have another shot after that.”

 

“Roger,” he answered.

 

Judy looked over towards the open door that led to the final staircase. She advanced slowly and quietly, ordering the others to keep back. Wolford told her he was looking down the stairway with his weapon drawn, which gave her an idea. She took a deep breath and held her paws up to her mouth.

 

“BOO!” she shouted. Not a split second later did the corridor light up with a yelp followed by frantic gunfire. The rounds buried into the drywall with no real sense of grouping or consistency. Judy counted six shots, which left three in the magazine.

 

“Stop shooting, spaz-cat! I thought doctors were supposed to be smart!” she heard from the stairwell.

 

That was Nick’s voice.

 

He was so close she could practically see him above her through the ceiling, frantically trying to calm his co-conspirators. His voice was nervous to say the least, but somehow it still felt wonderful to hear. She was so close now. The thought filled her with renewed fire and determination. All she had to do was get up the stairs and Nick would turn on them.

 

“Hopps, form up behind me, I got this,” Snarlof said and gestured to his shield. Judy considered his suggestion for a moment and shook her head.

 

“That thing is strong against gunfire, but they might have more explosives. If we go up the stairs too slowly, they might blow us away.”

 

“So what’s the play?” asked Delgato.

 

“Hold here. When I say so, I want you up those stairs and ready to go,” she said and held onto her mouthpiece. “Wolford?”

 

“He’s still there,” he said, sounding discouraged.

 

“Ok,” she said and gripped her rifle hard. She took a moment to judge her distance, lining herself up with the entrance to the stairwell at an angle. She did not catch the confused glances she was getting from her teammates. If Nick had seen her in that moment, he’d probably talk her out of it.

 

She took off like a rocket towards the stairway, taking massive leaps with each stride. Her rifle shifted from side to side as she ran. She flew through the open doorway in a flash and kicked off the ground hard. She flew to the side of the corridor and took two massive bounds up the wall.

 

“Ah!” another yelp came from the top of the stairs, followed by another frantic gunshot. His aim was far off, and he only had two more rounds left. Judy bounded from one wall to the other as she ascended up the corridor, the flailing ocelot now partially in her view. She took one more bound and kicked off the wall, pulling her rifle up and squeezing the trigger.

 

Just before Terrence’s arm could be tagged with three rounds of tranquilizer at close range, a paw with red fur grabbed him by the chest and pulled him back into the lounge. Before she could squeeze off any more rounds, the door closed with a slam and a click as the deadbolt locked into place.

 

“Scat,” she cursed and looked down the stairwell, motioning for her teammates to form up.

 

“Terrence is buggin’!” Wolford called out. Indeed, Judy could hear from the other side of the door that the doctor was not in a good place. “He’s heading for the window! I think he’s gonna try and jump for the trees. I have a shot!”

 

“Take it!” Judy called out.

 

Not a moment later, she heard someone on the other side of the door howl in shock. A moment later, she heard a loud thump as Terrence’s unconscious form hit the floor.

 

“Goodnight,” Wolford said proudly as he loaded in another round.

 

“Sniper!” she heard a female’s voice call out.

 

“Doc’s down!” she heard Nick call out. “Skye, pick him up! Watch the window.”

 

“How long, Wilde?” a darker, colder voice asked.

 

“Twenty seconds!” Nick answered frantically.

 

Judy looked down at the stairs as her team made their way up behind Snarlof. There were a few seconds of silence as they approached. Judy kept her weapon trained on the door, in case Pumar was stupid enough to try to open it. He wasn’t.

 

“Hopps! Get away from the door!” Wolford cried out. Judy’s eyes widened and then scrambled around for a getaway, not knowing what was coming.

 

“Don’t!” she heard Nick cry out.

 

She leapt away from the door just as a hailstorm of bullets began exploding through the wooden door, showering the spot she had just been in with death. A deafening and haunting sound of automatic gunfire followed as well, each shot blending into the next in a thundering hum. Judy landed on the helmet of Snarlof, who wheeled backwards a little bit but kept his footing. He held up his shield in case Pumar tried to point his weapon down the stairs at them.

 

“What the?. . . He’s setting the place on fire!” Wolford balked. Sure enough, a trickle of a harsh-smelling liquid seeped underneath the doorway.

 

“Fall back!” she ordered. Her team quickly turned back down the stairs and out the door just before the landing erupted in flames. The stairwell filled with a sickening black smoke that loomed towards them. Judy closed the door and grunted in frustration.

 

“Wolford!” she barked.

 

“I can’t see anything through the smoke!” he responded loudly. “I think they’re all on the balcony!”

 

_ They’re actually going to jump! _ Judy realized.

 

Judy looked at the time, noticing that backup should arrive any second. She turned away from the stairwell and looked backwards towards the windows on the other side of the third floor. The balcony Nick was on loomed just overhead. Judy peered out the window, looked upwards to see any sign of them, then back down to the river below. The gap between the river and the train tracks was actually much slimmer than she thought. Perhaps they were going to try to jump for the tracks instead?

 

There was a loud pop, followed by the sound of twisting metal coming from above her. She watched as a harpoon trailing a long metal wire flew across her field of vision and down the train tracks. It lodged deep into the bark of a tree, and the metal wire pulled taut along the train tracks.

 

“What are they doing?” Grizzoli asked in confusion.

 

Judy’s heart leapt into her throat as she heard a loud horn from her side. A massive freight train was approaching along the tracks, heading directly for the divide between the Rainforest District and Tundra Town. Judy also noticed the flashing lights along the road coming for them. A black SUV was leading the charge, with the letters ZBI labeled out front.

 

“They’re going to break for the train!” Judy shouted. Whatever that popping sound had been was what sent that metal wire along the tracks and over the river. They were going to use it as a zip line to get to the train.  _ Spitfire’s idea,  _ Judy thought.

 

“Snarlof! The window!” she ordered, and the polar bear gave her a puzzled look. “No time for questions, break it!”

 

Snarlof did as he was told and threw his shield against the window with his shoulder, sending a massive explosion of glass raining down towards the river below. The train was now whizzing past them at a good clip, ringing its bell as it rolled by.

 

Judy looked up through the window, a few raindrops finding their way onto her face. Just as she predicted, she saw three figures zip down the metal wire along with the train zooming underneath them. Skye was carrying a limp Terrence over her shoulder.

 

“Softball,” Judy murmured to herself, her eyes wide with panic as she watched Nick let go of his line and land on the roof of the train. He was getting away.

 

“Delgato!” she ordered. She threw off her helmet and tossed her rifle to the ground with a clang.

 

“Yes?” he asked.

 

“Throw me!” she shouted.

 

“What?!” he balked.

 

“That’s an order! The train! Throw me!” she was practically screaming now, and the confused lion hesitantly scooped her up with his throwing paw. She made herself as small as she could, curling up into a ball in his paw. The end of the train was nearly on them, so it was now or never.

 

“Hopps!” Delgato protested.

 

“NOW!” she shouted, and Delgato took a firm step forward and hurled the rabbit out of the window. Judy immediately noticed the thick rain pelting her head as she soared upwards through the air. She held herself into a ball for a moment to reduce her drag, trying her best to gauge where she was as she spun. Finally, she unfurled herself and braced for impact.

 

She collided with the surface of the last car with a loud metallic clang. Delgato’s arm was good but not fast enough to match the speed of the train. She slid backwards along the slippery wet surface of the rear car and grasped for anything to hold on to. At the last moment she caught the lip of the caboose with one paw.

 

She cried out in pain as her shoulder began to ache wildly again. She held onto the train with one paw, looking down at the rolling tracks beneath her, thankful that a strained shoulder was all she was feeling. She groaned as she pulled herself back up and onto the roof of the train.

 

She was about six cars behind them, and the rain continued to pelt her face and soak her uniform. She pulled out her tranq pistol from her hip and ran after them. Her shoulder continued to ache, and she had to squint to see anything ahead of her as the rain came down harder in the wind. She struggled for a moment to keep her balance as the train turned one way, trees and streets passing by on either side. None of them had noticed she was behind them yet.

 

She leapt from one car to the next, picking up speed and gaining on them. She saw the divide between the Rainforest District and Tundra Town come into view in the distance. The river was now spread out on either side of the train a good 30 meters below.

 

She was close enough to see the red on Nick’s tail. She saw it soaked through and dripping wet as he ran from her. Why was he still running? If only he could see her, if she could catch him, he would know she was there. Days of searching had come down to a simple foot chase on top of a rain-soaked train. Another moment and she’d be there. She took one more strong leap with both of her legs sailing up towards him, practically close enough to grab him.

 

“Nick!” she cried out with whatever breath she still had in her lungs. They each stopped, whirling around in astonishment as she kept her gaze on Nick.

 

He looked right at her with wide eyes and his mouth slightly open. He was both terrified and amazed at the same time. She saw both Skye and Pumar behind him, both looking right at her with a similar sense of disbelief. She held her gaze on him, noting every detail of his features. He was there, right in front of her, and she couldn’t say a word. She could only return his bewildered gaze.

 

Nick was fast. In a sprint, perhaps she was faster, but he always gave her a run for her money. She always scolded him for being lazy or for doing things the easy way, but when he wanted to he could move so fast his paws would look like a blur.

 

So Judy hardly saw anything when Nick pulled out his pistol from behind and fired.

 

Her breath caught stiff in her throat as the air left her lungs. Her eyes shot open, the rain blurring her vision. The impact was enough to lift her up a bit where the wind caught her form and swept her off the train.

 

She felt weightless as the world began to spin around her. The rain stopped pelting her as she fell along with the water. The wind rushed past her ears in a growing roar as her view of the train, of Nick, began to disappear. She had a horrible numbing sensation from tumbling, and a sickening pain grasp her chest.

 

The image of Nick’s face was burned into her vision. The flare of his pistol had lit up his face in a flash, leaving behind his stern expression that now followed her downwards in a bright afterimage. He was so close she could practically reach out and touch him. The green of his eyes were the last thing she thought of before her back collided hard with the river, turning the world quieter and colder before going completely black.

 


	14. Playing it Safe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  
> 
> I'll be taking some time to pamper out the last chapters of this story with my team. Next chapter out on July 30th. The whole story will be done and published on August 27th, if you'd rather read the whole thing in one sitting, which is understandable. 
> 
>  
> 
> I recognize that we've lost some readers from the previous chapter. I understand if it was too much, but I encourage you to see this story through with me. There are another 6 chapters to go and anything could happen. Regardless, thank you so much for reading! 
> 
>  
> 
> -Johnsoneer

Judy felt his warm tail sweep over her legs, rousing her from slumber. It was a very pleasant way to greet the day, seeing his face eclipsed by the sunlight through their bedroom window. She smiled, moaning a little as the world began to take shape around her. He smiled back at her with that same sly, self-satisfied, lovable grin he liked to wear. However, when he gave that smile to her, it was just a little bit brighter than usual.

"Hey," she cooed as he draped his arm beside her head and cradled her form. He didn't speak, only smiling back at her in peaceful contentment. He pulled himself closer, laying partially on top of her. The warm pressure was more than welcome.

"Where have you been?" she asked him. "I thought I lost you."

"No," she heard him say. He was still smiling, but his voice was so soft she could barely hear it. "No, Judy."

She was just about to ask him what he was concerned about when he lowered his head and pressed his lips to hers gently. She closed her eyes and welcomed his tender touch. His lips felt pleasant but distant. Perhaps she was not done waking up yet. She let him linger there for a moment before he lifted and smiled back down at her.

"Nick," she murmured happily, taking his face in her paw and combing through his rich red fur. He laid more of his weight on her form, just enough to press her into the mattress below.

"Stay with me, Judy," he said softly.

"I am, Nick. I'm right here," she told him. He lowered his head again and kissed her, this time a bit more firmly. He lingered there for just a moment longer than she would have liked, needing a moment to breathe eventually. He finally pulled himself back up and looked down at her closely. He was no longer smiling; rather, his eyes were wide and his face twisted in a concerned expression she rarely saw on his face.

"Don't do this, Hopps," he said a little louder.

"Nick," she said. "Nick, what's wrong?"

He kissed her again, this time forcefully. With the weight of his body pressing down on her chest and his mouth covering hers, she found it difficult to breathe. She gripped the fur on his cheeks, trying to ease him off of her, but he would not budge.

She finally pressed her paws to his chest and he lifted off her. She gasped for breath but could not find it under his weight.

"Nick," she began to wheeze. "Nick, you're hurting me." The weight on her chest returned and her vision blurred for a moment as his look of concern grew into panicked worry.

"Come on, come on!" he shouted as he bore down on her yet again.

"Nick!" she tried to shout. "Nick, stop it! I can't breammphf-!"

He cut her off with another kiss. He was holding her face in his paws, keeping her from turning her head away and gasping for air. She wanted him to stop, but she could not push him away no matter how hard she tried. Her limbs failed her and her wide eyes began to shake in panic. She could see his red fur blur into the light as she fought for consciousness. She cried out against his embrace, only muffling her voice as her body shook. Judy closed her eyes tightly as the last of her strength failed and her mind went blank.

 

* * *

 

 

 

Judy's eyes shot open as panic filled her mind. She raised her paws and pushed away at whatever was blocking the air from her mouth and turned to one side. She coughed and wheezed painfully as warm water ran from her mouth and nose and onto the ground beside her. She clutched her chest as the last of it emptied onto the greenery, wincing in pain. Finally, she took a large panicked breath inward and felt the relief of air returning to her lungs.

"There she is," she heard someone say beside her. Whoever it was clearly felt relieved as she continued to gasp for air. She coughed as she exhaled, a little more water finding its way from her mouth. "That's it, let it out."

She was laying on a blanket of moss, the roots and branches of various plant life intertwined in all directions around her. Her ears were filled with the hum of helicopters hovering overhead and the screech of distant sirens. Her feet still lay partially in the water, right on the edge of the river. She could taste the murky water lingering in her mouth, and strangely something else. Something peaty and intriguing, like a new ingredient added to a favorite meal.

Her eyes were still not open all the way, her vision still slightly blurred. What she could make out lying beside her on the ground was her own kevlar T.U.S.K. vest. It was sopping wet and beaten, but what drew Judy's senses back to her head was the small-caliber slug buried in the chest by the shoulder.

"Nick?" she asked groggily, turning back towards whomever was looming over.

"Take it slow, Hopps," he said, looking her up and down in relief. The gentle smile on his face was so subtle she would normally fail to see it. But any smile on his face would be akin to seeing a bunny grow antlers.

"Savage?" she asked as she looked up at him from the ground. His jacket was off so all she could see was the white of his shirt and the black of his tie. He was drenched to the bone just as much as she was, water dripping from his chin. He seemed out of breath, yet his expression was grateful.

The previous events began to shuffle back into her memory: the raid, the train, Nick, and the fall. She could not remember anything past hitting the water. Passing out in the river should have meant drowning, yet there she was with her vest off her chest and the taste of Agent Savage's breath lingering on her tongue.

"Savage . . ." she said softly as she reached up with one paw and touched her lips. "Did you . . .?"

"Take it easy, don't move around too much," he urged her, placing a paw on her shoulder. She hardly found any strength to keep her eyes open, much less brush him away. The moss beneath her head begged her to return from consciousness and into her dream again.

"Jack? Jack!" she heard a female call out. They were joined by a badger, Agent Brocktree, who wore a concerned look on her face. Before long, the sharply dressed jackal and moose fell in line behind her, joining them by the riverbed.

"She's alive," Savage said and rose to his feet.

"Yeah?" the moose said with a scoff. "Why don't you ask her why she hid evidence from us? Or how she was able to mobilize a strike team on a case beyond her clearance?"

"Save it, Maple," Savage scoffed. She saw his face return to his indifferent, focused scowl she remembered. "We can be mad at her later. Right now we've got a building on fire, a train stopped halfway between Sahara Square and Tundratown, and four terrorists on the run."

"What's the play, patrón?" the jackal asked. The others quieted themselves as Agent Savage thought for a moment. He did not need long before he began delegating to his team members, as if he had not been swimming in the river a moment earlier.

"Maple? I want you to take three squad cars and comb that train. Start in the climate wall and work your way outwards. If they escaped into the sewers from there, we'll need to know where," he ordered. The large moose gave Judy a stern glare before he turned back towards the road where his service vehicle waited for him.

"Juarez?" Savage continued. The jackal's ears perked as he stepped forward. "I want you to head back to the crime scene and send word for an ambulance to come down here for Officer Hopps. Once you're done, get in that building and see what you can find."

"You mean whatever's not burned to a crisp," the jackal said with a frown.

"Just get to it, Juarez," Savage said, clearly in no mood for sass. The jackal nodded and made his way up back towards the building Judy raided a few minutes earlier.

Judy gasped as she noticed the building was billowing black smoke up into the canopy, covering the normally lush landscape with a sickening smog. She found the strength to sit up and look back at the scene in a mix of horror and sadness. She hoped that her team members were alright, but she knew that fires in the Rainforest District were easy to contain for obvious reasons.

"Brocktree?" he continued.

"Sir," the badger said and stepped forward.

"Radio one of those helicopters down and hop in. I need you to keep an eye out for any predators popping out from sewer grates within a one-mile radius. I'll stay here and make sure Officer Hopps gets looked at," Savage ordered.

She simply nodded and looked down at Judy with a sorry look on her face. Her gaze wandered back up to Agent Savage, who waited patiently for her to depart.

"Jack . . ." Agent Brocktree began.

"It's alright, Conny. Just go."

With that, she turned and headed back up towards the noise of sirens and police radios. Jack Savage waited for her to leave before turning back to Judy, who was preoccupied with the bridge that carried the train tracks from the Rainforest District into Tundratown. The beautiful white spires that rose out of the river were nearly 90 feet high. She had fallen at least that distance, if not more, before hitting the water.

"Look here," Savage said as he knelt down and observed her closely. He was close to her, much closer than she would normally like, but she was much too dazed to try to brush him off at the moment. He picked up his jacket from the ground and pulled out his phone. He held it up, hitting the flashlight button and shining the light into her eyes. He focused on one eye for a moment before continuing onto the next. The bright light stung, but she kept her eyes open nonetheless.

"Now close your eyes for me," he ordered. In her daze, she was more than happy to shut out the world for a moment longer. He lifted his paw and snapped his fingers in front of her left ear. Her ear twitched with a jolt at the sound, and he repeated the gesture to her other ear which also recoiled reflexively.

"Okay, good," he said with some satisfaction. "I don't think you're concussed. Can you raise your paws for me?" Judy was finally confused enough to begin to wonder what was happening.

"Wh-what are you doing?" she groaned.

"I was an EMT in college," he explained. "Can you hold up your paws? Like this," he said and raised up his paws to about shoulder height as if he was treading water. Judy would have rolled her eyes if it did not seem so tiresome an act at that moment. She lifted her arms up, but before she got up to her shoulders, a blinding pain seared into her side and radiated through her core. She clutched her chest and moaned in pain.

"Might be a rib," Savage said solemnly. "I doubt the CPR did that any good. I'm afraid that'll feel worse later. Keep your arms down for now. The medics are here, they'll give you something for it."

Agent Savage rose to his feet and waved at a pair of medics making their way down to her.

"Nick got away, didn't he?" she mumbled.

Savage did not respond to her question. Instead, he stepped to the side and picked her T.U.S.K. vest up in his paw. He dug his fingers into the front and pried the slug from the kevlar holding it in place. He rolled the black piece of metal around in his fingertips for a moment before placing it in his rear pocket and tossing the vest aside.

The medics were giving her similar orders, but she couldn't hear them. She simply watched as Jack Savage walked away with his head held low in an exhausted slump. The medics placed her on a stretcher and brought her up near the ambulance that waited for her. They asked her to lay back and relax as they gave her some painkillers before the trip to General. She was sick of the lights and noises at the hectic emergency scene, so the idea of relaxing for a moment felt too good to pass up. As they lifted her into the ambulance, she decided it was easier to pretend to be asleep, and before long she really was.

 

* * *

 

 

She awoke several hours later in a hospital bed nestled by the window in Zootopia General Hospital. She was still groggy beyond all measure and the world continued to be a little hazy, but eventually she found the strength to assess the damage. She wiggled her toes, a good start. She pinched her fingers together one by one. She raised her ears from behind her head; thankfully those were working just fine.

Aside from an ache in her shoulder and a general sense of fatigue, she felt fine - right up until she leaned forward and propped herself up against the hospital bed. Her chest screamed in pain as she attempted to support herself, and before long she gave up and leaned back down.

"Hopps! Goodness, you're awake!" a frantic-yet-concerned cheetah said from her doorway. "Take it easy, ok? Here, let me get the bed for you."

Clawhauser found the switch for the bed that helped prop her up so she could sit up and observe her hospital room. Judy could tell from the number of beds that it was designed to be shared for mammals with milder ailments rather than a private room, which was a good sign. It meant the doctors did not need her in intensive care.

The cheetah looked her up and down for any sign of discomfort. "How are you feeling?" he asked.

"That depends," she groaned. "Am I grounded?"

"The doctor said you bruised your rib but didn't break it," Clawhauser explained. "He said it was like all the pain of a broken rib with none of the time off work."

"Good," she said and shifted her weight a little bit. "As soon as I'm off the drugs, we need to get moving."

"Hopps . . ." Clawhauser started.

Before he could continue, her phone began buzzing from somewhere close by. She looked to her side and found it charging by the windowsill. Clawhauser must have brought it for her from the precinct. The caller ID read 'Mom & Dad', with a few missed calls beside their name. She quickly scooped it up and hit the voice call button.

"Hey, Mom," she answered as brightly as she could muster.

"Ohh!" Bonnie Hopps sighed loudly in relief. "Judy! We were so worried about you!"

"What's wrong, Mom?" she asked rhetorically. Someone must have spilled the beans to her parents before she woke up. She'd find out who later.

"What's wrong?!" her mother practically yelled. "What's wrong is that I just watched my own daughter inside an ambulance completely unconscious on the news!"

"What?" she asked in no short amount of surprise. She looked around and fumbled around the bedside table for a small black remote before turning on the tiny TV in the corner of the room.

Sure enough, the first channel that came on was ZNN, with looping footage of the fire and police lights in all directions. The headline reported the fire and police activity, but thankfully no news crews had caught Nick's escape. The helicopters recorded a wide shot of the train they escaped on, stopped between Sahara Square and Tundratown. The center of the train was inside the tunnel that passed through the climate wall that kept Tundratown cold and Sahara Square sweltering. Various officers scoured the train, looking for any sign of their suspects. There must have been a shot of her being lifted into the ambulance, and she was much too tired to keep her eyes open then.

"Mom, I'm okay, everything's fine," she consoled her mother, who was not having it.

"Oh, so that must have been another bunny cop I saw getting dragged onto a stretcher with one foot in the grave!"

"Mother, please, calm down. I was not in a coma, just tired. I've been up for nearly two nights straight now so I felt a little dizzy. The medics took me to General just to be sure," she said. It was not technically a lie, since she did feel dizzy and they did take her to General to be sure, but she was certainly leaving out a detail or two. Clawhauser watched her quietly with concerned eyes.

"I'm coming to visit you," her mother decided.

"No, Mother, please. I'll be out of here in a few minutes," she guessed, though it could be longer.

"Don't you 'no, Mother' me, bun-bun. I've already got the train ticket," she said. Judy's eyes widened and she held onto the phone a little more firmly. Something about her mother visiting Zootopia made her stomach turn.

"No!" Judy startled. "Mom, don't come to the city right now."

"And why not?" she asked.

"Because . . ." she did not have the heart to tell her that there were bombs in the city that could go off at any minute. Savage mammals of all shapes and sizes would sweep through the streets, attacking anything they could recognize as living. The thought of any of her family being in the city for it made her skin crawl. She suddenly thought Terrence was not as foolish as she thought he was for seeing his son out of town before it all happened.

"Because why?" her mother repeated.

Before she could answer, she was interrupted by a knock at the door. She was pleased to see Wolford standing there with a faint smile on his snout.

"Look, Mother, I need to call you back," she said.

"Don't you hang up on me, young lady," Bonnie Hopps demanded.

"Fine," she said exasperatedly. "Then I need to put you on hold for a second, ok? I'll get right back to you."

A moment of silence followed as Bonnie considered her compromise. "Ok, but don't take long, you hear?"

"Ok, Mom. I love you," she said and hit the 'hold' button on her phone before looking up at Wolford. He let himself in and placed his paws on his hips, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Are all bunnies indestructible?" he laughed. "You all should have taken over the world by now."

"Max," Judy began. "How's the team? Did everyone make it out?"

"They're fine, all fine," he said calmly and waved off her concerns. "They were a little shocked by your maneuver. 'Softball', I think Delgato mentioned? I knew you were gutsy, but having him  _throw_  you out the window? You're lucky you're in here and not in a bag."

Judy smirked. "I tried that move with Fangmeyer a few days ago to great effect."

"Ah," Wolford realized with a cheeky laugh. "That explains where the term 'softball' came from. She use to play a ton for the precinct, though I'll never hear that word the same way again."

Judy rolled her eyes. "If Nick ever hears about that, I will never see the end of it."

At the mention of Nick, the other two fell silent. She frowned as well, gripping the blanket on her knees nervously.

"What's the status?" she asked softly.

"Not good," Wolford said coldly.

"They disappeared into the sewers through the climate wall," Clawhauser explained. "There are hundreds of routes they could have gone, and the stench is slowing the sniffers down considerably."

"They could pop up from any sewer grate in the city and we would have no idea," Wolford explained.

Judy breathed a sigh of relief. "Ok, good."

"Good?" Wolford balked.

"It means the ZBI hasn't found them yet," Judy reasoned. "If we can dig through their hideout in the Rainforest District, we might catch something to go on that the ZBI missed."

"What are you saying, Hopps?" Wolford asked, a cold seriousness creeping over his voice.

"If Nick still has his drive key, that means they'll pick another spot surrounded by cameras that they can sneak into. There should only be a pawful of places like that in the city, so we'll go one-by-one again until we find them."

"And then what?" Clawhauser asked her hesitantly.

"We get to them before the ZBI," she stated, as if it were obvious.

"You can't be serious, Hopps!" Wolford barked. Judy's ears shot upwards and her eyes widened as Wolford glared angrily at her. "After all of this? You're still . . . Benjamin, can I have a word with her for a second?" Wolford said to Clawhauser.

"He's on this team too, Wolford," Judy said firmly.

"Fine, then," he scowled. "Hopps, I  _saw_  what happened on that train. I could see the whole thing through the scope of my rifle. That was Wilde who pulled the trigger."

Clawhauser's paw shot up towards his mouth and looked over to Judy in shock. A slight gasp escaped his maw. Wolford continued to glare challengingly at Judy.

"Of course he did," Judy asserted. "I didn't give him much choice."

"What on earth are you talking about?!" Wolford practically shouted, waving his arms around frantically.

"Think about it, Maxwell. If he hadn't pulled the trigger first, Pumar would have, and he would not have aimed for my vest."

"Aimed for your vest? Judy, he  _shot_  you! Just because he got a little sloppy does not mean he's still on our side," Maxwell countered.

"Nick is one of the best shots on the force, Wolford. The bullet was small-caliber and it landed right here," she said, gesturing to her ribcage near the edge of her shoulder. "Even if the slug went through the vest, it would not have been enough to kill me. I had no helmet on and I was right up in his face. At that range, if he wanted me dead, I would be."

"Oh, and the almost-drowning part was just him trying to get you to cool off, right?" Wolford growled.

"It's not like I gave him much of an option. The others were right there, so anything less would put us both in danger. He could either blow his cover with three deadly criminals around or . . ."

"Or  _shoot_  you," Wolford finished for her. "The rabbit he  _loved_?"

"If Pumar had any doubt in Nick's cover before, it's gone now. Maybe this is just the thing Nick needed to prove himself."

"Hopps, this is crazy! I wanted to believe Wilde was not a traitor, but there are only so many of my friends I can see shot before I have to face facts," he argued. His snout was curled into an angry snarl but his eyes were mournful, like he was saying goodbye to a dear friend. "Even if he was undercover, could you really still feel for him after this? Do you really expect us to catch him and then everything will go back to the way things were?"

"Of course not," Judy said and crossed her arms over her chest. She fought for a moment on what to say, not really having enough time to think through it for herself. But her chest hurt in more ways than one. "Maybe . . . maybe Nick and I are done. After this . . . I just don't know. But that's not what matters right now. What matters is that Nick would never let bombs go off in his city. We were a little early, so next time we'll wait till we see a sign from Nick that it's time to move in."

"Hopps, listen to yourself. We had them on the ropes and Nick had every chance to turn on them, but he didn't. We're not going to see any sign from him because he won't give one," said Wolford.

"Nick has been leaving us plenty to go on so far," Judy reminded him.

"Yeah? Take a look at your 'clues' so far," Wolford spat and began counting out their leads on his fingers. "You've got him wearing a t-shirt, the word of a known street hustler, a strand of fur, and a fake name registered to a car. Have you ever stopped to consider that maybe Wilde was just being sloppy?"

"You've been working with Nick for long enough to know that he does not do 'sloppy'," Judy said coldly. There was something about the way Wolford was slowly getting closer to her that frightened her. He was cross with her, that much was obvious, but there was something else on his face. He was pleading with her, desperate and angry at the same time.

"You've got hunches, Hopps. We've gotten lucky with them so far, but that's all they were. There are  _seven_  pieces of evidence showing Wilde has betrayed us: six of them were pulled from Fangmeyer's back, and one of them was lodged in your kevlar," said Wolford. His paw now rested on the handle of her hospital bed, trembling slightly.

"Fangmeyer believed in Nick," Judy said.

"Then go ask her for help!" Wolford howled. "She's right down the hall!"

"Maxwell!" Clawhauser scolded him. Wolford was not paying him any mind anymore.

"What are you trying to say, Wolford?" Judy asked him outright.

"I'm saying that I won't help you hurt yourself any longer! I'm done!" he finally cried out and waved his arms across his chest dismissively. Judy fought back the crack that threatened to creep through her voice and the quiver in her lip as she looked at her friend and teammate. While his words cut her deep, much deeper than she thought they would, she fought back the tears. She refused to let Wolford see that he was getting to her. She spoke quietly.

"No one is keeping you here, Maxwell."

"But you're still going after him, aren't you?" he grumbled.

"Yes," Judy said firmly. "I made the mistake of doubting him once, and I will never do it again. I know you don't understand it, and you probably never will, but I will stake everything I know and love on him: my career, my home, even my life."

Wolford gazed at her in an amazed shock, his mouth opening slightly and the furious tremble in his paw subsiding. "Why?" he asked softly.

"Because I know Nicholas Wilde better than anyone on earth ever could. And if I have to choose between playing it safe and believing in Nick, I will always go with Nick."

Wolford's brow furrowed again and he stepped away from her. He shook his head, partially in anger and partially in disbelief. Judy understood why he felt the way he did. He had to do what he felt was right, even if it pained him to do so. She held no grudge as she watched him turn and head back to the corridor where he would await orders from the chief. He stopped, standing right at the threshold and placing his paw on the door frame, his ears splayed downwards shamefully.

"Wolford," Judy called out softly. He did not turn around, but his ear turned upwards, listening closely for her. "Don't tell the chief."

His grip on the doorframe tightened. He sighed and dropped his head low, running his other paw over the back of his neck. He stood still for a moment, holding himself on the brink before turning back and looking at her sadly.

"Fine," he mumbled. "It won't change anything, anyway."

With that, Wolford walked down the hallway and left Judy and Clawhauser alone in her recovery room. The empty gap in the door he left behind filled Judy with a bitter sadness that bubbled over her cheek after he was gone. She wiped it away and looked at Clawhauser, who looked heartbroken for her.

"I understand if you want to join him, Benny," Judy said softly.

"Hopps," Clawhauser said and placed a comforting paw on her shoulder. "You're going after a dangerous group of criminals whether I stay or not. There's no way I'm letting you do that alone."

She smiled at him weakly, placing her paw on his expressing her gratitude. She would need his help, that was certain. She looked up at him, fighting back the terrible realization that he was all she had left. What began as a strong and capable team now dwindled down to the misfits of Precinct 1. There was more than just their skills left absent in their wake. She missed them.

"I should get back to my mother on hold, huh?" Judy said, trying to change the subject.

"I'll leave you to it. Let me see if I can fetch the doctor for you," Clawhauser said with a cheerful smile.

Judy sighed and picked up her phone, staring at the screen with her mother and father's face smiling at her. How could she tell them about everything that happened? How could she explain that Nick was missing, that he was in deep with terrorists, that he shot her? How could she even pretend to herself like those things didn't happen? Even if everything ended well after this. If she brought Nick in, caught Pumar and the others, and cleared Nick's name, would she ever feel safe with him again?

Judy shook her head and wiped another tear from her cheek in defiance. There were bigger things going on at the moment. There were thousands of lives at risk, and it was her job to find Nick and stop the bombs from going off. How many mammals would not come home to their loved ones if she failed? It seemed selfish for her to be so concerned about one love when so many more hung in the balance. Regardless of how she felt about him now, she knew he was still Nick, and he was no murderer. He could lie and swindle and cheat to get himself an easy buck, but he would never help a mammal like Pumar.

Judy clicked the hold button on her phone and held it back up to her ear.

"Mom?" she said.

"Yes, bun-bun?" her mother responded.

"Tell Dad and the others that I'm fine. Don't bother coming into the city, I'll be too busy to talk with you anyway. I'll call you back soon, I promise," Judy said. Every ounce of timidity and apprehension was gone from her voice. She scooted herself to the edge of her bed, giving herself a slight shove and a wince as she leapt from the bed.

". . . Ok, hun," her mother said softly.

"I love you," she said. She put away her cellphone and looked around the room for something to replace her hospital gown. She caught a glimpse of her uniform folded neatly and resting on a seat by her bed.

Her badge was waiting for her.

 

 


	15. A Bad Name

Judy emerged from the recovery room with her uniform on and her badge on her chest. A concerned nurse looked up at her from the help desk as she walked by. Judy waved off her concerns and pretended that the side of her chest did not flare up in pain when she waved. There would probably be a confused doctor wanting to check in on her soon, only to find her room empty. She did not have time to wait to be checked out properly and be discharged. Bombs were in the city, and she had to find them before they went off.

“Hopps!” Clawhauser called out to her from the main entrance. She walked right past him and headed for the nearest police cruiser.

 

“Let’s go, Benji,” she said and ushered him to follow.

 

“Are you cleared from the hospital?”

 

“I’m fine, but we gotta get back to the precinct. Can you drive?”

 

“Sure,” he said and opened the cruiser door for her. She hopped up into the passenger seat and winced as her ribcage protested at the movement. She was less mobile now, and that was bad if she needed to chase after someone or fight someone off. But Judy was still thankful that, at the very least, she could move. Considering what she’d been through, she would take that as a victory. 

 

Clawhauser put the cruiser in gear and set off towards the precinct. Zootopia General was settled just east of Downtown, so luckily the drive was not too far. Judy began rolling ideas around in her head as they went along. There were plenty of possible places Pumar and his crew had disappeared to, but Judy still had to get there first. Without the rest of her team, going by traditional means would certainly put them behind Savage and the rest of the ZBI. 

 

“Are you sure you’re okay, honey bunny?” Clawhauser asked after a brief silence between them. “I mean, it’s not like I don’t think you’re a tough bunny, don’t get me wrong. You’re as tough as they get, but you really took a beating back there. How far did you even fall?”

 

Judy wanted to shrug off his concerns, but she answered his question all the same. “About ten bounds.”

 

“Ten what-nows?” Clawhauser asked. 

 

“Right,” Judy realized and shook her head. “Sorry, Benji. A bound is how bunnies measure height; it’s a little more than 9 feet.”

 

“Wait, so can bunnies jump that high?!” Clawhauser balked, which made Judy laugh. 

 

“Maybe we used to, but being homebodies has made us all a little rounder. Even I can only get to around eight and half at my highest bound.”

 

“I can relate with getting a little rounder,” he jested and placed a paw on his belly. “So that’s, what . . . 90 feet?!”

 

“About that height, yeah . . . Don’t look at me like that, Benji, I promise I’m okay. I was a little rattled, sure, but I’m still good to go. I can take a break when bombs aren’t about to go off,” Judy said. 

 

“Okay . . . so what’s the next move?” he asked. 

 

“We need to think of where Nick would go to next,” Judy began. “If we try the traffic cameras again, even if we find something, we won’t be as fast as the ZBI. Their hideout in the Rainforest District has probably been picked clean by CSI, though I doubt they’ll find anything too helpful. They were ready for us, so we need to rely on intuition.”

 

“What do you mean by intuition?”

 

“You know Nick better than anyone else in the precinct, besides myself. Where would he go to hide from the cops if he had to?” she asked, hoping to get some ideas rolling. 

 

“I, uh . . . I guess with Finnick, maybe?”

 

“I thought so too, but I doubt it since he wouldn’t want to implicate Finnick in a terrorism plot. Besides, he did ask Finnick to skip town, so I doubt Nick would rely on him being around right now,” Judy said. 

 

“Okay then, what about out of town?”

 

“Hmm, I don’t think so. Pumar would want to stay in the city until the job is done. If they’ve left the city, then we’re already too late.”

 

“Well, Hopps, I guess he’d pick a place you would know about too, if he’s trying to get you to follow but not the ZBI. Are there any that come to mind? Maybe a spot where you two have some history?”

 

It was a smart idea, she had to admit. But there were no locations that came to mind that made any sense. They spent most of their time together in their apartment, but Nick would not hide Pumar there since the ZBI was likely keeping an eye on the place. There were a few spots around town they liked to visit during their time off, like the park in Savannah Central or the café where they spent their first official date, but those were much too public for him to be hiding anywhere nearby. 

 

The idea that made the most sense still wasn’t very likely. During their first case, Judy had said some awful things about predators in her press conference, and this tore her and Nick apart for some time. She felt terrible about it, so when she finally apologized and fixed things between them, she found him on a lawn chair by the old warehouses near the docks. She could still remember pouring her heart out to him underneath the road. That bridge became a very important spot for the two of them, though they rarely ventured back to that spot. 

 

That was definitely a spot only Judy would know about, but the bridge had little in the way of shelter and the nearby warehouses were all owned by businesses now, so they would likely have workers and surveillance up. Perhaps it was a good enough place to start, but Judy doubted that Nick could convince the others to hide out there. 

 

Just then, the radio in Clawhauser’s dashboard crackled to life. 

 

“Bogo to Clawhauser, what’s your twenty?” Bogo’s voice came through the static. The cheetah leaned over and scooped the microphone up off the dashboard.

  
“Clawhauser here. En route to the precinct, ETA about three minutes.”

 

“Good,” Bogo replied. “I need you to set up the podium and mics when you get back and prep the lobby for a press conference.”

 

Judy’s eyes widened as she looked up at Clawhauser, whose face also twisted in unpleasant surprise. Her mouth hung open and her lips felt dry.

 

“Uh . . ten-four, Chief,” Clawhauser said and hooked the microphone back on the dashboard. He looked down at Judy with a nervous frown. “You think he’s taking the investigation public?”

 

“Of course he is,” Judy said sadly. 

 

Nick did not turn on Pumar like they expected him to, and now Pumar could be anywhere in the city. Having the public aware of terrorists at large would limit their ability to move out in the open. There would undoubtedly be some fear and media activity, but Pumar’s face would be plastered all over the city so he would be forced into hiding.  

 

But then there was Nick’s face, too. If the chief told the public about Nick’s involvement, he would not be able to leave her any more clues to follow. Being able to move around the city freely could be the only thing he depended on to get information to her. She also had to admit that despite everything he’d pulled, another part of her feared for Nick’s freedom. If the public saw his face next to Pumar’s, it would be impossible to clear Nick’s name and he would be run out of town, even if the bombs were stopped and Nick cleared of any crimes.. 

 

Perhaps he deserved that much, for all he had done. He shot an officer, after all. But Judy was certain he was no traitor, and if he was helping bring this plot down from the inside, he did not deserve to rot in prison with a shock collar around his neck for the rest of his life.

 

“We need to stop him,” Judy decided.

 

“What? Stop the chief?” Clawhauser balked.

 

“Nick’s in deep and he needs some more time. If we can hold the chief back for just another day, we should be able to track him down and move in when he gives us the signal,” Judy said.

 

“Hopps, even if Wilde is still on our side, how are we supposed to get the chief to listen? I’ve never seen him change his mind about anything once it’s made up.”

 

Clawhauser brought up a good point. She’d be a fool to expect Bogo to fold just because she asked him too. She already asked for much more than she was authorized to, and it was a miracle that Bogo had not put her on the meters for it. Judy needed leverage, and she had nothing on the chief. 

 

But she did have something on Savage.

 

Judy took a deep breath through her nose, calming her nerves and trying her best to keep her heart from beating out of her chest. She let her paw rise to her vest and ran a thumb over her badge for a moment, cradling it as if she were protecting a child. 

 

“I have an idea,” Judy said as they pulled into the precinct parking lot. “Clawhauser, listen to me very carefully. I need you to be everywhere for the next 24 hours. I need your eyes on the cameras, your ears on the radio, and your phone charged and in your pocket at all times.”

 

“Okay,” Clawhauser said timidly. “But why are you asking me this? It’s not like I’m not always on my phone and listening in on the radio. What’s so different about now than when I was doing this before?”

 

Judy hopped out of the cruiser and began making her way towards the precinct before shouting back to Clawhauser. “Because in a few minutes, it’ll be illegal for you to tell me!”

 

She could hear a few of his concerned and confused calls for her as she leapt up the stairs and blew past the lobby. She ran as fast as she could without straining her shoulder or ribs. She went past the bullpen and dashed up the stairs, heading for her desk. When she got there, she quickly pulled out her desk key from her belt and unlocked her file cabinet. She pulled out a beige file and quickly opened it up, removing the small sticky note that was left for her. 

 

She closed the file with a satisfying slap and made her way back down the hall and onto the third floor. Were she a bit taller, she would have looked over the side of the balcony that loomed over the lobby to take in the sight of the precinct for a brief moment, but she did not have time. She knocked on the door and cleared her throat. 

 

“Chief?” she called out. 

 

“Hopps?” his voice responded immediately. His surprise was palpable through his voice. He opened the door and looked her up and down with a furrowed brow.  “What on earth are you doing out of the hospital?” 

 

“I need to speak with you, urgently,” Judy said, ignoring his question.

 

“I assume you heard about the press conference. I hope you’re not here to try to convince me otherwise,” he warned her. 

 

“I’m not,” she said. Bogo raised a skeptical eyebrow, but allowed her in all the same. He found his seat and rolled himself up to his desk. He ran his fingers between his eyes and sighed loudly. Clearly he had not gotten much sleep either. 

 

“What’s this about, Hopps?” he asked. 

  
She didn’t bother with the chair. She hopped up all the way to the top of his desk in a large bound, wincing again and rubbing her ribs just under her shoulder tenderly. She held out the beige folder and let it fall onto Bogo’s desk. He donned his reading glasses and reached to one side of his desk, where a large round piece of glass rested. Bogo ran the large glass lense over the contents of the folder, and the images enlarged enough so that a mammal as big as him could read it. His eyes jumped, shooting Judy a quick glance before looking back down and reading the file closer. 

 

“Skylar Frost,” Bogo said. “A former ZBI field agent. You are sure this is the same vixen currently with Pumar?”

 

“Positive,” she said with a nod. “I also saw video footage of when she faked her death. There were ZBI agents there.”

 

“This is highly classified information, Hopps. Where did you get this?” Bogo asked sternly. 

 

“I’m sorry, sir, but I’m not going to tell you that,” she said. She was watching Bogo closely, keeping herself respectfully at attention with her paws folded behind her back. 

 

“I need to know, Hopps. How long have you had this?” he asked. Judy steeled herself and held her chin high. 

 

“Since yesterday morning, sir,” she said calmly. “And that is a class-D violation of the code of conduct in accessing unauthorized documentation. Violators are subject to immediate suspension and a following investigation from internal affairs.”

 

Bogo took his glasses off of his face and looked at her with wide eyes. His cheeks tensed as he bit down and took uneven breathes through his nose. She saw his fist curl in, squeeze tightly, and then relax, his shoulders slumping downward as he ran a hoof down the side of his face.

 

“Why are you showing me this now?” he asked. “You know I’ll need to report this along with Pumar, Whiskberg, and Wilde during the press conference.”

 

“If you’re going to spill it, you deserve to know the whole story,” Judy said bravely. “I’m sorry, Chief.”

 

“For what?”

 

“For letting your faith in me go to waste,” she said. Judy reached up to her shoulder and lifted her vest up a bit, reaching underneath and undoing the pin that held her badge to her chest. She pulled it off, and held it out to her superior, who looked back at her with an open mouth and sad eyes. 

 

“Waste?” he said softly. “Hopps, my faith in you is the reason I let you run your own ops team at Flake’s.”

 

Judy’s eyes widened. “You knew about that?”

 

“It’s the reason I let you have your own T.U.S.K force and the reason I let you sidestep the ZBI the way you have. I’ve had every ounce of faith in you, and not a drop of it has gone to waste. You’ve gotten further on this case than the rest of the ZPD and ZBI combined, and you’ve got Pumar running like a scaredy cat. You have done splendid police work, Hopps.”

 

“And now it’s done. You can’t look the other way on this, Chief.”

 

Bogo raised his hoof and reached for her badge. He hesitated, taking a moment to gaze back at her. She was just as confident and fiery as she always was. As much as she wanted to bend the rules to suit her, she could not hustle her way out of something like this. She wasn’t Nick. 

 

Bogo took the badge from her paw and placed it in his pocket on his shirt. He stood from his chair and walked around his desk, facing her directly. 

 

“Humor me for a moment, Hopps,” he began. He raised his hoof off of her shoulder and held it above her head, letting it hover about ear’s height and keeping it there with his fingers splayed out. 

 

“Reach up and touch my hoof,” he ordered.

 

Judy looked up at him, then back at his hoof apprehensively. She took a breath in through her nose and slowly raised her paw up over her shoulder and up towards his paw. Before she could reach it, her chest howled in pain and she recoiled back down, hissing for a moment and biting her lip.

 

“I thought not. Hopps, go home and get some rest,” Bogo said and dropped his hoof. “I’m placing you on medical leave until I’m convinced you’re recovered from your injuries. I’ll have Delgato come up here and escort you home.”

 

Judy smiled at the chief, grateful for his gesture. Medical leave was much less restrictive than administrative leave. It wouldn’t stop the impending internal affairs investigation, but it would give her the freedom to move around the city. If she was going to find Nick without her police resources, she would need that much. Judy suspected the chief knew that. 

 

“Before I go, may I take a minute and collect a few things from my desk?” she asked him politely. He cocked an eyebrow at her, folding his arms across his chest. If he was suspicious, he clearly did not let it stop her. 

  
“Of course,” he said and stepped out of her way. She thanked him and bounded off of his desk and exited his office in a brisk walk. As soon as she was clear of his sight, she began running again, this time towards the private office on the other side of the third floor where the ZBI held their temporary HQ. She opened the door to their shared office space and searched wildly around the room. The only mammal in the room was a badger she remembered as Agent Brocktree.

 

“Officer Hopps?” the badger said in surprise.

 

“Where is Agent Savage?” she asked. 

 

“I am of no obligation to share that with you,” Agent Brocktree scoffed and returned her attention to the computer at her desk.

 

“Please, ma’am, I have something urgent to speak with him about,” Judy said firmly.

 

“He had to take an important phone call, which usually means he’s speaking with the ZBI director. You are just going to have to wait your turn,” Agent Brocktree said, not bothering to look Judy in the eye anymore.

 

“Agent Brock . . . I’m sorry. It’s Conny, right?” Judy asked, calming her voice down a bit. The badger took the glasses off of her nose and eyed Judy closely. She looked just as tired as Judy was but was not as cold or spiteful as Agents Maple or Juarez. Judy remembered Conny being the only one to show the slightest bit of sympathy after Savage pulled her from the water. If one of his agents would be merciful, it would be her. 

 

“Please, Conny. I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important,” Judy said. 

 

Agent Brocktree rolled her eyes and pointed towards the ceiling.

 

“He takes his private calls on the roof,” she said with a sigh.

 

“Thank you,” Judy said and hopped towards the staircase. The roof exit was past the 5 th -floor landing. McHorn and Snarlof would go up there to smoke from time to time, so there was often a piece of wood there meant for propping the door open when someone needed a moment alone. She found the door propped open with a cool breeze blowing in from outside.

 

She threw the door open and scanned the rooftop for a moment. From the roof of the precinct, one could get a wonderful view of the beautiful skyline of downtown Zootopia. The sun was out, but the air was cooler than usual for Savannah Central. Judy looked around for a moment, finally finding Jack Savage with his back turned towards her and his paw holding his phone up to his ear. 

 

He was pacing in a short line on the far side of the roof while speaking on the phone. His was not wearing his suit coat, likely because it was still soaked from their dip in the river. He had a disheveled look about him, his fur matted and unbrushed. 

 

“Agent Savage!” she called out and began lightly jogging towards him. She saw his ear perk up towards her and he turned around quickly, more than a little surprised by her presence. “Savage, I need to talk--”

 

“I promise you,  _ Mr. Director, _ that I’ll get it done,” he said, giving her a pointed glare as he emphasized just whom he was speaking with. She decided not to anger the director of the ZBI in that moment, all things considered. She waited patiently as he listened carefully to his phone, keeping his eyes on her for the most part. Once he was satisfied she got the hint to keep quiet, he continued his pacing.

 

“Yessir,” he said. Another moment went by as he listened to the other side of the conversation. Judy huffed a few heavy breaths as she caught her wind and waited for Savage to finish. “What if it’s the former?” Savage asked. 

 

There was a slight breeze that blew in Judy’s ears, making her fold them down over her back and cross her arms over her chest to cover her core. She heard the muffled sounds of Savage’s phone as he paced a little bit. 

 

“And what is that, sir?” he asked flatly. From what she could guess about his expression, the ZBI director was none too happy with his performance over the last few days. He looked frustrated and impatient, yet still calm and collected as he kept his eyes on the ground. 

 

Then Jack Savage looked at her, his eyes darting around every feature of her face. It was his same usual glare, though a bit more focused. He took several moments in silence observing her. She looked back at him anxiously, hoping to high heaven that he would be done soon.

 

“. . . I believe so, sir,” he said and looked down at the floor. “Understood.”

 

Another moment and Agent Savage finally finished his call, bringing his phone down and eying her with an annoyed scowl. “Why are you not at the hospital, officer?”

 

“I got better,” she said sternly.

 

“You should go home and get some rest. You’ve been through a lot . . and your badge?” he said, pointing to her empty vest.

 

“It was heavy,” she said and frowned at him as he placed his phone in his pocket. “Don’t put that away yet. You’ll need it in a minute.”

 

“Why?” he asked slowly. 

 

“Because you’re going to call the director back and get the Pumar case classified,” she told him matter-of-factly. 

 

He raised an eyebrow and folded his arms across his chest. “And why would I do that?”

 

“Because I just gave Chief Bogo Skye’s agent profile.”

 

Agent Savage’s eyebrow dropped back down. He didn’t blink, balk, or speak -- he only stared at her intensely as if waiting to hear the rest. His gaze studied her closely as if to decipher the inner workings of her mind through scanning. 

 

“Chief is going to host a press conference in a few minutes, and unless the details of the case are classified, he’ll tell the whole world about her.”

 

Savage kept his glare focused on her, not the slightest reaction on his face. It was unsettling for her, but she knew she was right. Even if he was an expert at hiding his tells, this was not a hustle. She was simply telling him the truth. 

 

“You still love him, don’t you?” he asked softly. She didn’t answer, partly because she was nervous to know her own answer, but also because she had a question for him.

 

“Do you still love her?” she asked back. 

 

Savage softened, taking in a calm breath and observing her quietly. She would let him come to his own conclusion about his question. How she felt about Nick was not important at the moment. What mattered was stopping bombs, and even if she had to do it with nothing but her cellphone, she would get it done. 

 

Savage reached back into his pocket and pulled his cellphone back out. 

 

“Go  _ home _ , Hopps,” he repeated and began walking back towards the door to the stairs. She watched him run a paw over the fur on his neck as he kept his eyes to the ground. He opened the door back up and stopped, looking back at her with his ears folded over his back. 

 

“We give bunnies a bad name,” he said with a sigh. Judy did not respond; she only watched as he made his exit down the stairs and out of sight. 

 

Judy did not think on his statement long. She soon made her own way down the precinct and into the locker room where she hung up her suit and vest. She put on her civilian clothes and took her tranq out of her police belt, hiding it in a tote bag that she slung over her shoulder. She might need it if she was going after Nick and Pumar alone. Her picture of Nick was still there, smiling cheekily at her just as he always had. She placed the picture in her rear pocket and made her way back to the lobby. 

 

Delgato was waiting for her beside Clawhauser’s desk. Clawhauser himself was helping usher in journalists and reporters into the lobby. He looked at her with worried eyes, but she smiled and winked at him, trying to keep his spirits up. He nodded back and returned to organizing the podium where Bogo would give his press conference. The sight made Judy’s nerves twinge, but she knew she had done all she could. The rest was up to Jack and Bogo now. 

 

“Hey, ‘softball’,” Delgato said with a smile. 

 

“Delgato, please don’t make that a thing,” Judy said with a sigh. The large lion placed his paws in his pockets and bashfully nodded. 

 

“Alright, sorry. I’m glad you’re doing alright,” he said.

 

“Not 100%, unfortunately. Chief’s put me on medical leave,” she explained, leaving out the potential investigation that may follow. 

 

“I know, I heard. The chief sounded mad about something a minute ago,” he pondered for a moment before shaking his head. “It’s alright, Hopps, you can afford to take it easy for a little while. You probably want to shower after being in the river,” he said and led her through the front lobby. Judy was reminded of how she saw Higgins escort Francine out the same doors the previous morning. It helped ease the blow, having a friend take her home. 

 

The cruiser ride home was quiet. Judy had a lot on her mind, and Delgato respected her space. She thought back to what Bogo had said about her and her team. She was beyond grateful to have the chief show so much faith in her, but it wasn’t enough. She needed to find Nick soon, and she needed to do it without her badge. It wouldn’t be easy, but technically she didn’t have her badge when she cracked the Nighthowler case years ago, nor was her badge any good before she turned it in since no one respected her for it. 

 

Judy looked at the time, deciding enough had gone by and nervously turned the car radio on to the AM news station. Bogo’s voice immediately blared up through the speakers.

 

“. . . in Zootopia. Pumar is wanted by several foreign sovereignties and the ZBI for weapons dealing and aiding terrorist organizations, including the Dravec, who were responsible for the recent bombing in Griño. This morning, the ZPD found his hiding place and staged a T.U.S.K. raid in the Rainforest District that regrettably ended in his escape.”

 

“You mean to say Pumar is still at large?” one reporter asked. Judy winced at the memory.

 

“Yes,” the chief answered. “We are releasing a photograph of Pumar to all news agencies and we urge the public to report any sign of this mammal to the ZPD at the provided hotline.”

 

“Do you believe an attack similar to the one in Griño is imminent in Zootopia?” another reporter asked.

 

“While we have no evidence of members of the Dravec in Zootopia, Pumar’s presence in the city needs to be taken as a threat. Therefore, we are taking extra measures to track this mammal down regardless of his current intentions.”

 

“Is Pumar acting alone?” another mammal asked. Judy held her breath for a moment and stared daggers at the radio on the dashboard.

 

“No. The details of Pumar’s accomplices are still unconfirmed at this time,” Bogo said. 

 

Judy smiled and turned the radio off, catching an eyebrow and a sideways glance from Delgato. She did not need to hear the rest. Now that Nick was free to move about, she needed to pick his trail back up and catch any clues he left for her. The bridge by the warehouses was a good start, so as soon as Delgato was gone, she’d call a Zuber and make her way over there. She wouldn’t need much, just her tranq, her phone, and perhaps a few things from the apartment . . .

 

“Scat!” Judy cursed, eliciting a jump from Delgato in the driver’s seat.  _ How could I be so stupid? _ she thought. She searched the entire city high and low, turning over the smallest hints and chasing down the smallest whispers Nick might have left her, but she never searched her own home! She spent a whole night there and didn’t think to poke around a little harder for a clue from Nick. 

 

“Hurry, Delgato,” she ordered. Technically she did not have any authority to order him around anymore, but he didn’t seem to notice. He sped up and zoomed down the parkway towards Judy’s apartment, where she would find something that would lead her to Nick. Judy would bet her life on it.

  
  
  



	16. We'll Respond In Kind

She did not thank Delgato for the ride home, nor did she greet the marmot sitting at the front desk of her apartment building. There was no time for either. She simply raced through the doors and up the staircase, not bothering to wait for the elevator. Her shoulder and chest protested a little, but she ignored the pain as she fiddled with the keys in her pocket as she arrived at her door. Her paws were shaking, making her miss the keyhole on the first try.

 

“Come on!” she cursed before finally unlocking her door. She dumped her tote bag on the floor by the door, walking in and slamming it behind her. 

 

Her eyes scanned up and down frantically at the entryway of her apartment. If there was something obvious, she would have caught it before, so now she needed to look for things hidden. She had no doubt that the ZBI weren’t above snooping around her place without a warrant, and Nick would have assumed the same. 

 

“If I were Nick, where would I have hidden a message?” she thought aloud. 

 

She began with his closet. Nick kept an extensive collection of tacky shirts hung and ready for any occasion. Judy would often mock him for his horrible taste in fashion since many of his shirts had odd patterns and clashing colors. She pulled each one off the hanger and dug through their breast pockets, tossing them to the floor before reaching for the next one. 

 

She furrowed her brow as she thought of where else to look. Perhaps he hid something in the bathroom for her to find during her morning routine that she overlooked. She went into their bathroom and opened up the mirror, tearing all the various products and medicines off of the shelves and onto the floor. She checked the window, the shower, the fur-drier, and even the toilet, with no luck. 

 

After she was satisfied she had cleared the room completely, she moved on to the bedroom and turned the place upside down. There were no notes left on the dresser or on her alarm clock. Her dresser was clean too, so she riffled through the bed sheets for good measure, leaving a proper mess in her wake. 

 

“Come on, Slick, talk to me,” she murmured, making her way into the kitchen. 

 

Their fridge had plenty of food going bad in it, and the pantry was cluttered too. She took a little extra time going through the carrots in the produce drawer, but she still found nothing. In frustration, she began pulling cutlery and kitchenware out of the drawers and onto the kitchen counter. She felt a little foolish for thinking that Nick would leave her a message in her salad spinner, but at a certain point it felt satisfying to be making noise. 

 

She was off track now, so she stood in the kitchen and thought a bit more carefully. He’d leave it somewhere for  _ her _ to find. When they first met, he read her like a book after their encounter at that ice cream shop. After growing closer, becoming partners, and living together, Nick knew her better than she knew herself. So where would  _ she _ look?

 

She went back into the bedroom and opened the cupboard that contained all of her stuffed animals from home. Most of them were rabbits, but there was one small fox among them that she observed closely. No luck. She fidgeted inside her desk and fished out her old carrot pen, the same tool she used to hustle him into helping her with her first case. She hit play but only heard static. 

 

She went back into the living room and reached up to the bookshelf beside the sofa and pulled out a wide canvas book. She insisted on making this photo album for the two of them, despite Nick’s reluctance to spend money on something technology could do, he claimed, better. It was important to her because for one, they never really took the time to thumb through old photos on their phones. Also, she liked having something physical to flip through together. 

 

Judy opened it up and immediately began scanning the pages for any notes or signs that Nick had been there. The first couple of photos featured a few silly selfies of Nick with Judy caught unsuspecting in the background. The next few were photos that Nick took during their first day in their new apartment together, when Judy decided not to include the pictures Nick took of her rear. The next few were photos that she took, one selfie of the two of them at the park caught her eye. Nick promised he wasn’t going to pull the sneak-a-kiss maneuver when she took it, saying that it was an old trick that was too predictable. The long-tongued liar had buried his lips into her cheek the moment she took it, getting a cheeky smile from both of them. 

 

Judy felt something warm crawl down her cheek. She was surprised to find her eyes were wet when she reached up and rubbed them with her forearm. She spent more time looking at pictures than she would have liked. After a certain point, she wasn’t looking for clues anymore. Judy sighed and flipped through the rest of the pages quickly. After she was satisfied that there was nothing in there for her to find, she placed the book aside and looked up at the ceiling. 

 

It was always easy to tell whenever she caught Nick off guard. He had a practiced, well-rehearsed face he wore whenever he was pulling a con or being even a little bit sneaky. In a lot of ways, she loved that smile despite it being so frustrating sometimes. It meant she was in for a surprise, be it pleasant or annoying, and having someone predictable would probably bore her in the long run. But whenever  _ she _ had the upper hand, his eyes would widen and he would bumble his words, trying desperately to talk his way out. That look of shock was on his face right before he shot her. She could still vaguely see it, his face blurred in an afterimage from the flash of his pistol. 

 

She rubbed her chest, her ribcage still aching in pain. She had forgotten to pick up any painkillers from the hospital before she left, so she would have to make due with whatever she had in her medicine cabinet. She slowly rolled up off the sofa and trudged back into the bathroom that now looked like a tornado had swept through. She found some ibuprofen and pulled out her glass, holding it under the sink. 

 

Instead of a steady stream of water, the faucet sputtered and spat water and air violently. 

 

“Eugh,” Judy groaned, fiddling with the faucet. The water continued to sputter and cough like a sick child until she only used the cold water. She filled her glass and popped a few pills, groaning with the knowledge that they would do little to mend her aching ribs and shoulder. 

 

Shutting off the water, Judy eyed her sink with a furrowed brow. She tested the cold water once again; it worked fine. The hot water, on the other hand, blew air and water sporadically before it stopped altogether. With a raised eyebrow, Judy turned around and hopped into the shower. She stood out of the way of the water and turned it to its hottest setting. The water flowed evenly at first, then coughed violently just like the sink had before running completely dry. 

 

“What the . . .” she wondered. The water heater was in a utility closet beside the kitchen. It was about twice her height and about as old as her appartment was. She opened the closet and observed it closely. There weren’t many buttons or levers on it, so if it was broken there were only a few things she could do to try to fix it. Off to one side, she noticed a valve labeled ‘Master Shutoff’. Judy pulled the lever up flush with the piping, and she heard the satisfying sound of water bubbling up through the plumbing. She tested the hot water in the kitchen sink, and now it worked just fine. 

 

_ I definitely took a shower Tuesday morning _ , Judy realized. She remembered showering after the one night that week she had spent at home since Nick’s disappearance, so someone had shut the valve off since then. Judy ran over to the front door and inspected the doorknob for any signs of a forced entry. She did not find anything out of the ordinary, so it must have been someone with a key to her apartment.

 

“Nick,” she whispered and looked back at the hot water heater. “What are you trying to tell me?”

 

_ Spitz _ , she remembered.  _ There were water heaters in the refrigerator at Spitz’s house! _ Terrence had paid off the capybara some big money for scavenged water heaters, which he must have delivered using his customized truck that wasn’t starting. Terrence also paid off a street dealer named Willie for some chlorine off the grid. Chlorine he used at their hideout to build a bomb. 

 

Judy inspected the water heater more closely, looking for a warning label of some kind. Anything that held pressure would normally come with some obvious warning sign for liability purposes. She creeped deeper into the utility closet and looked up and down on the opposite side. Near the top of the tank, she found the warning label, along with an envelope taped to it. 

 

“Bingo!” Judy said and pulled the envelope from the side of the tank. The front of the envelope was labeled with black marker with Nick’s writing. 

 

**_‘Toot Toot_ ** _ ,’  _ it read. 

 

She practically tore the envelope up like a kid on Christmas. She stepped back into the light of the kitchen and pulled out a thin slip of paper. It was a boarding pass for a train ride from Downtown to Bunnyburrow. A part of Judy was elated that she found something Nick left for her, but another part was worried about what he was telling her. 

 

A ticket home could be his way of telling her to get out of the city while she could. Terrence had pulled a similar stunt, making sure his son was out of town before bombs went off. But Nick would know how stupid he would need to be if he thought she was going to leave the city at a time like this. 

 

She dug around the envelope, but there was nothing else in it. The ticket to Bunnyburrow was all there was. She slid back into the utility closet, looking for any other sign of Nick. While she did not find any more clues, she did find the warning label she was looking for originally. Her water heater was rated for 150 pounds per square inch of pressure. 

 

Judy ran over to the counter where her phone rested and opened up Zoogle, typing in ‘water heater pressure rupture’. The first link that came up was a video from some reality tv show’s website. The video was called ‘exploding water heater’. Judy clicked on the link and watched as two energetic tv hosts walked her through their test to push a water heater to its breaking point. 

 

“Basically, a water heater is a giant pressure tank,” the first one explained, pointing at their water heater they were testing. “There are many safety precautions on it that we’re going to have to break in order to test out our theory. This one here is an emergency pressure valve that will slowly leak pressure once it gets too high. That way there’s no catastrophic failure.”

 

“But we’re going to plug that up,” the other host said with a wicked smile. “Along with the backup valve as well. Then we’re going to pump this thing full of pressure until it goes boom!”

 

Judy skipped ahead a few minutes as they prepped the tank and began pumping it full of compressed air. The pressure gauge built up higher and higher, venturing into the red on the dial. The hosts stood behind a blast shield and gave the camera a thumbs up. Most shows like this one were designed to get kids interested in science, and what was cooler than blowing things up?

 

Judy gasped as the bottom of the tank gave way and exploded with tremendous force. The tank itself flew upwards like a rocket, and the area around the tank erupted with water vapor spewing everywhere. The cloud of water vapor covered nearly 50 feet instantly in all directions before blowing away in the wind. 

 

“Don’t worry, kids at home,” one host said in conclusion. “The water heater in your own home is designed with these safety measures to make sure this doesn’t happen, and there’s no way the water pressure in your own home could build up so high.”

 

“Also,” the other host chimed in, “this tank is made thick steel. It would take a lot to rupture this from the outside. So there’s no reason to worry about your water heater unless it’s ancient. Just be careful to make sure your water heater’s release valves are working properly.”

 

Judy rewound the video back to the explosion and watched it a few more times. Her eyes were drawn to the cloud of steam that spewed in all directions after the blast. The tank had been full of water when it exploded, but what if it had been filled with something else? Something poisonous, perhaps. 

 

“That’s it!” Judy realized.  _ The water heaters are the bombs! _ If they filled one full of Nighthowler serum and built the pressure up enough in the tanks, then the resulting explosion would infect anyone standing nearby. The cloud of vapor would drift on to infect even more mammals. All they needed was to pressurize the tank and rupture it when the time came. 

 

“But why the train ticket?” she asked herself. There was something she was missing about their plan that Nick was trying to tell her still. Knowing about the bombs might be useful, but it did not tell her where they were. The ZPD and ZBI would undoubtedly be looking at public events or highly populated areas as potential targets. 

 

They could blow up the bomb on a train, perhaps. That would cause untold amounts of panic and violence contained in such a confined space. But Terrence had Spitz scavenging for weeks collecting water heaters, and that plan only needed one or two. Also, that idea did not seem big enough for Pumar. From the way Pumar described it to her, it sounded like they planned to cover the whole city with Nighthowler toxin.  _ The coming fire _ _ , _ he said. 

 

Judy looked over the train ticket in her paw and noted nothing odd about it. Savanna Central to Bunnyburrow, the same line she took whenever she visited home. It was also the same train she took when she first arrived in the city years before. She remembered being entranced by the views of the city from each district. It really made her first time in the city something wondrous to behold.

 

Judy dropped the ticket and her eyes widened. She jumped up and bounded out her apartment door. She quickly went back down the stairs, noting the pain in her chest resurfacing as she did so. She landed on the first floor and went to the mammal sitting at the front desk of her apartment building. The marmot looked surprised and concerned by her speed and urgency as she spoke. 

 

“I need a map of the subway lines!” she said frantically. 

 

“Oh! Uh . . . I only have them for large mammals right now,” the marmot said after digging through her desk. The poor creature was trying her best to be helpful.

 

“That’s fine!” Judy said, anxiously tapping her paws on the desk. The marmot lifted the map that was as tall as Judy was over the desk and plopped it down. Judy wasted no time hoisting it up over her shoulder, running back up the stairs with it. 

 

The unfolded map took up most of the floor space in her living room. The map had details like addresses of each subway stop and the other transit lines, as well as various monuments and sightseeing opportunities for the tourists. She pulled out a marker and began finding the spots in the city she knew Pumar’s team had been. 

 

“The storage house by the docks . . .” she started and circled the spot where they first found the black car and raided a storage business. She moved on towards Downtown. “The motorcycle chase . . .” Judy circled the spot where she first ran into Skye, noting it followed a subway line that led into the natural history museum. “The Rainforest District . . .” she continued. She circled the exact spot her T.U.S.K. raid took place. After she had all of them circled, she took a step back and observed the map from the top of her sofa. 

 

“. . . sweet cheese and crackers,” she whispered. She saw it immediately. Each of these spots were right next to the train line to Bunnyburrow. That same train she took when she first entered Zootopia snaked its way around the entire city, traveling through each district before ending up in the center of Savanna Central. She thought back to Nick’s message he tapped to the warning label.  _ Toot toot _

 

_They’re going to hijack a train!_ she realized. Judy pulled out her phone and hit Clawhauser’s number as quickly as her thumbs could move. It rang only once before the dutiful cheetah picked up. 

 

“Hopps,” he said anxiously. “Are you alright? Delgato told me the chief put you out on leave and took your badge!”

 

“I’m fine, Clawhauser. I need you to patch me through to Chief. It’s important.” 

 

“Right now?” he asked her in surprise. 

 

“Yes! I think I know where they are!” she shouted.    
  
“Alright then, patching you through.” The line went static for a moment before it began ringing again. Judy’s foot was furiously tapping on the couch cushion as she waited for the chief to pick up. 

 

“Bogo here, make it quick. Things are moving here.” Chief Bogo said. 

 

“Chief, it’s Hopps. I think I know what they’re planning,” she began. “The water heaters from the Spitz murder, Terrence is going to rig those up as bombs by filling them with Nighthowler toxin and pressurizing them.”

 

“Water heaters?” Bogo wondered. “Even if they built the pressure up in one of those, they’d still need a way to detonate them.”

 

“That’s what the chlorine bombs are for. A smaller charge, like the one they booby-trapped their hideout with in the Rainforest District, would be just enough to rupture the tank and cause the whole thing to blow,” Judy explained. 

 

“So that’s what the chlorine is for, then,” Bogo agreed. 

 

“Exactly.”

 

“This is good, Hopps, but we’ve got something more pressing right now.”

 

“What do you mean more pressing?” Judy asked. She held her breath for a moment, fearing she was too late. 

 

“We got a hit on a possible match for Pumar in Tundratown. Traffic cameras picked him up by the port; we think he might be making a break for it,” Bogo explained. “I’m sending four units up there now, with everyone else on standby.”

 

“The port?” Judy repeated and looked down at her map. The harbor in Tundratown was way out in the open, and nowhere near the Bunnyburrow line. Pumar would never risk going out in the open. “I don’t think it’s him, Chief.”

 

“Oh? Do you have an idea of where they are, then? Your water heater theory is plausible, but how does that help us find them? I can caution all officers on duty to keep an eye out, but you can’t exactly sneak a water heater into a public place inconspicuously.”

 

“Sir,” Judy said calmly. “I don’t think they’ll be sneaking bombs anywhere. I think they’ll use the train.”

 

“The train? What makes you say that?” Bogo asked.

 

“Each location we’ve found them at so far is right along the Bunnyburrow line. That line snakes all the way around the city before ending at Savanna Central, and it stays above ground the whole way. I think they’re going to hijack a train and dump bombs out the windows as they go along until they reach Savanna Central Station and blow the rest up all at once!” 

 

Bogo went silent for a moment as he contemplated her theory. “Do you have anything more than just their recent locations? I can’t shut down train traffic unless I have something firmer.”

 

“Nick left me a message, Chief. He left me a train ticket taped to the water heater,” she explained. 

 

“In your apartment? Hopps, if he left you a train ticket going out of town, I think he’s telling you to get out while you can. Savage tells me he did the same for his mother,” Bogo argued. 

 

“Do you think I would ever take a ticket and run like that?” she asked him. 

 

“Not in a million years,” he answered easily. 

 

“Then Nick would know that too! He’s not telling me to get out, he’s telling me where he is!”

 

“And where is he?” Bogo asked. 

 

“There’s an abandoned subway station in Sahara Square. It’s the same place Nick and I found the first Nighthowler lab during the Bellwether case,” she said, keeping an eye on her map on the floor. “It’s nestled right near the Bunnyburrow line. If they started there, they could hit every district in the city and it would take us weeks to secure the savage mammals in the aftermath.”

 

“Hopps, what makes you think he’s there specifically?” Bogo asked. 

 

“Because . . . because he knows I would look there,” Judy said apprehensively. 

 

“Hopps, this is a  _ hunch _ at best. I can’t call officers off of a real lead and send them underground because you’ve got a feeling about this one,” Bogo said with a scoff. 

 

“Then just send one unit, let them do some recon, and if--”

 

“Absolutely not. On the off-chance that you’re right, that means Pumar and his team are there with bombs ready to go off, and that is way too dangerous. I’m not sending less than 3 units to inspect any lead right now to avoid anyone else joining Fangmeyer,” he said in his commanding tone. 

 

“Chief, I’m telling you, that’s where they are,” she pleaded. 

 

“And I’m telling you that your word is not enough here. I need hard evidence, and right now I’ve got some in Tundratown. Maybe we’ll get to your idea if we run out of other leads and the ZBI doesn’t find anything, but until that point I’ll need my officers elsewhere. ” 

 

Judy went quiet for a moment. She searched for anything more solid to give him. She had everything she needed to convince herself that Nick was there, but Bogo did not believe in him like she did. 

 

“ _ Hunh _ . . .” Bogo sighed. “Listen, Hopps, I’ll have security at all train stations along the Bunnyburrow line doubled, and I’ll have the mayor’s office on standby to shut down the grid in case they try anything with the trains. But I don’t think Wilde was trying to tell you anything besides ‘get out’.”

 

“With all due respect, you’re wrong,” Judy said softly. 

 

“I’m sending Clawhauser to pick you up. We know that Pumar wanted you dead already, so if Wilde still has a key to your place then it’s not safe there anymore. I want you to come back to the precinct and stay put, understand?” he asked her. She knew exactly what he meant by that order: Bogo wanted to keep her from doing something stupid. 

 

“Yes, sir,” she said softly. 

 

“Good,” Bogo said, sounding satisfied. 

 

“Just tell me one thing, sir,” Judy asked. “When you do find them, will you be using tranqs or live rounds?”

 

“. . . whatever Pumar throws at us, we’ll respond in kind,” he said carefully. There was no diplomatic way to put it: Bogo was going to use lethal force, just like Savage. 

 

“I understand, sir,” she said firmly. She hung up, having heard enough.

 

She placed her phone in her pocket and headed for the door. Finding her tote bag, she fished out her tranq. She only had one round in the chamber, so she would have to use it on Nick and get him to safety before backup arrived. She was not lying when she told the chief she understood. What she understood was that both the ZBI and ZPD were after Nick and hungry for blood. She had to find him first, and thanks to his message, she knew just where to go. 


	17. Primal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huge thank you to KungFuFreak07 and IttyBittyKittyTitties for these lovely works of art to illustrate this chapter. Go give their Deviantart and Tumblrs some love!

The Banyan Street Station was still closed. Judy guessed there was not even a plan to restore it at this point. There were no workers or evidence of any construction, there was only the ‘station closed’ sign on the locked gate that did a poor job of keeping any mammals out of the area.

 

Judy remembered how her first case brought her and Nick to this exact spot. After pulling a favor from Mr. Big and interrogating a thief named Weaselton, they tracked the original Nighthowler lab to an abandoned subway car parked at this station. Back then, she had just made up with Nick and she was over the moon to be back on the case with him. Now, she was betting everything on him choosing this place to hide out, if she had interpreted his message correctly. That case was what brought them together, so it meant a lot to both of them. 

 

She snuck her way under the gate just as she had years ago and made her way down the dark staircase. The train platform was scarcely lit by a few red subway tunnel lights. She kept low and against the shadows, moving slowly and putting her ears to work.

At first glance, there was nothing there. Of course Doug’s lab was missing, but so was any other sign of recent mammal activity. After she was satisfied she was alone in the station, she made her way across the tracks and took a closer look at where the original Nighthowler lab had been.

Judy pressed her ear along the length of one of the steel rails that ran down the tunnel in either direction. There was a low rumble that slowly built, but looking down either direction she saw nothing. She stood up and backed away from the tracks, making sure to hop over the power lines as she did. She waited there until the train she was hearing appeared.

As if from nowhere, the train lights flooded the tracks in the station. The A-line express appeared around a corner and zoomed by with a blinding light and high-pitched screech. The wind rushed by her as she watched the cars zip by. She waited as the train traveled down the next turn and disappeared.

After making sure to keep an eye on the tunnel where the train had emerged from, she repeated her technique and pressed her long ear down the length of the steel rail. For a moment, all she could feel was the dying hum of the previous train as it traveled farther and farther away. Soon, there was nothing but silence. She focused on the rail, keeping her legs poised and ready to bound out of the way if she needed to. 

 

Suddenly, she felt a clang as something struck the tracks down the line. It was followed by another few thuds, much too inconsistent to be anything mechanical like a train or track switcher. A mammal was making that noise.

“Gotcha,” Judy murmured and looked down the line of the tracks. She quietly made her way down the tracks towards the sounds of more clanging as metal struck metal. The dark train tunnel narrowed, so Judy made sure she always had a way of avoiding any oncoming trains by finding various doorways or service areas to creep in. She moved from one spot to the next quickly and quietly. The track straightened out up ahead, and the red lights that lit the tunnel went down for a good long way, but she did not see any movement.

“Where’d you go?” she wondered. Her ear twitched as she caught another clang, this time closer. She drew her attention to one side and noticed the track split off from the main line down a smaller tunnel that curved around a corner. As she followed this new line of tracks, she carefully poked her head around step by step, making sure not to alert any mammals to her presence. As she got closer, she began to hear voices. There were at least two mammals, but neither of them sounded familiar.

“How many left?” one said.

“Just those last two,” the other answered.

Judy crept closer and poked her head past a ladder that led up to a sewer grate. She saw a single subway car parked at the end of the tunnel with its lights on. She also saw Skye, who was hauling a water heater across the ground. Judy noticed another device strapped to the side of the water heater with tubes and something else that looked like a ripcord. If she had to guess, she’d bet that was the chlorine bomb charge-and-trigger mechanism. The tank struck one track as she dragged it across the tracks before it did the same on the next rail with another loud clang. That must have been what Judy was hearing.

“Would you mind at least  _ attempting _ to be careful with the explosive ordinance?” Terrence grumbled. He was standing in the open doorway of the subway car.

“If these things aren’t durable enough to handle a little lovin’, then they won’t last at all once the cops start shooting,” she said, giving him a scowl as she approached the side of the car.

“That will hardly be our problem, now will it?” Terrence said. He helped her hoist the large metal tank up onto the train car. Judy held back a gasp as she saw at least three-dozen-or-so similar tanks piled up as high as the windows in the subway car. If any one of those devices exploded, the resulting chain reaction could cover all of Savanna Central in Nighthowler toxin.

“We’re lucky our clients aren’t really interested in any repeat purchases,” Skye noted. “Hard to say, ‘come again!’ if your customer is gonna kill themselves with your product.”

“I am not interested in any repeats either,” Terrence agreed. “I’ll wipe my paws of this business as soon as the money is in.”

“Should be soon, right?” Skye said, pouting. “We’re cutting it way too close staying in the city limits for as long as we have.”

Judy noticed the handle of a weapon poking out from the backside of Skye’s waistline underneath her belt. She wore workout gear for the most part, sporting a blue tank top and trim-fitting leggings. Clearly she was ready to move if she needed to. At least this was better than wearing Nick’s clothes. Terrence, on the other hand, wore an all-black shirt and pants, with gloves to match. It was as if he was trying to look the part of a sneaky criminal.

“Showtime, doc! Everything ready to go down here?”

Nick’s voice suddenly cutting through the air practically made Judy jump. She wanted to poke her head farther out to get a good look at him, but her view was obstructed, and she was too close to risk them seeing or hearing her.

“All good here, Nicky,” Skye said. “Are they here yet?”

“Our friend Moody McCatface is giving them instructions on how to find us now, so should be any minute. You got our tickets out of here, Skye?” he asked. He emerged from a large doorway on one side of the tracks and made his way to Skye’s side. He was wearing a blue button-down shirt that was undone, flapping about loosely. Underneath it yet again was the same t-shirt he wore when he disappeared, sporting the logo of an old band he liked called ‘Sweet’.

 

“We’re all set,” Skye replied and patted her pocket. The three of them stood beside the open door to the train car filled with Nighthowler bombs and surveyed their handywork. From what Judy could gather, they had set up the explosives and the delivery mechanism for whoever was buying, and now it was all ready to go. 

 

Judy pulled out her tranq. She quietly snuck down low along the tracks and hid on the opposite side of the train car. If she could sneak into the driver’s cabin, she could swipe the key and make sure the train could not go anywhere. She waited and listened for the others to move first.

 

“Let’s move, mammals,” a new voice called out from beyond where Judy could see. She recognized Pumar’s voice immediately. “Our guests are arriving.”

 

Judy peeked below the train car and watched their feet. Nick was standing alone as Terrence and Skye joined Pumar up a short ramp towards a large steel doorway. The others fell out of view, and Nick stood alone on the other side of the train. Judy held her tranq close and peered around the train car. This could be her only opportunity to dart Nick and get him to safety before she called in for backup. She shuffled to the corner and stood ready to bring him down, nearly close enough to hear him breathing.

 

“Just a little longer,” Nick murmured to himself. Judy paused as she heard the trepidation in his voice.

 

“Come on, Wilde! You got the keys?” Terrence called out. Judy ducked back against the side of the train car and held still. 

 

“Yeah, yeah, keep your whiskers on, Terry,” Nick answered and lightly jogged up the ramp to join him.

 

_ Scat _ , she cursed as the opportunity came and went. Nick had the keys, which meant she could not stop the train directly. If she had more time, she might try to sabotage it somehow, but she guessed she had a few minutes at best. She waited for another moment of silence and poked her head around to where they were standing. Following in Nick’s footsteps, she crept up the ramp and slowly peered around the massive door dividing the next room over from the train car. 

 

The ceiling in the next room was at least 50 feet high and was supported by massive concrete columns that were wider than an adult rhino. Judy guessed this room had once been used as a train car repair garage from the chains and rigging that hung from heavy pieces of machinery. A few large train wheels lay stacked along the wall to one side. The walls were a grim shade of dark red, with lines of water damage running down from the ceiling. Thankfully, the bright lights kept all the mammals clearly visible. 

 

Judy saw Pumar wearing a smart suit and tie underneath a black overcoat. He had his paws folded behind his back and stood with a commanding presence in his best business attire. He was surrounded by his co-conspirators, who stood quietly looking at the other door opposite Judy. Skye had her arms folded across her chest and tapped her foot impatiently, while Terrence looked more than a little scared. 

 

For years, Nick trained himself so his body language never gave away any signs of fear or apprehension. He kept his ears up but not stiff, his eyes lidded but not shaky. Avoiding obvious tells made him a capable bluff when he needed to be. But whenever he was  _ truly _ relaxed, his tail would gently sway up and down with his breathing. Right then his tail was as stiff as stone. He was nervous. 

 

“Victor?” a voice asked from the opposite doorway. All heads turned and watched as three large predators emerged from the door at the other end of the hallway. The one who called out for Pumar, a snow leopard, smiled and approached the group slowly. His accent was thick, and his clothing was strange. His black coat was thick and made from a fabric Judy did not recognize that almost shone in the iridescent light. When they got closer, she realized they were wearing leather, making Judy’s stomach turn. 

 

Leather was  _ highly _ illegal in Zootopia, and Judy had only seen it once when she and Nick busted a cache for the black market during her second year on the force. The idea of eating another mammal was violent and sickening enough, but to skin the body and wear it like clothes? Judy was about ready to vomit. Her eyes went wide as the other predators fell in line behind the snow leopard, and she realized who she was looking at. 

 

“Dravec,” she whispered as her ears folded down her back. These were Pumar’s  _ buyers _ , the ones who wanted all of Zootopia showered in chaos and death. They must have flown to Zootopia from Griño and somehow got past background screening. Now here they were, ready to buy their ultimate goal from Pumar. Buyers, suppliers, and dealer were now all in the same room, and Judy was the only officer there.

 

Judy tucked her tranq away, pulled out her phone, turned it to silent, and began to record a video of the meeting. She watched through her phone as the snow leopard shook Pumar’s paw and smiled. She made sure to get all three Dravec terrorists in the shot along with Pumar before she slowly backed away. She kept her phone rolling as she turned and got a few seconds of footage of a pile of explosives in the subway car. The footage needed to get to Clawhauser, pronto. After that, it would be likely seven minutes before the room was crawling with ZPD and ZBI operatives. She cued up a message to Clawhauser, typed out ‘Banyan Street Station’ underneath the video and hit send. 

 

“No, no, no!” she hissed. She did not have any service in the subway tunnel. She looked around for a moment with a nervous frown. She could not risk going all the way back to the street through Banyan Street Station and risk letting them get away, but she needed to get the message out. If she did, then all she would have to do is tranq Nick before the shooting started. 

 

She quickly made her way back down the tunnel and found the same sewer grate ladder she hid behind earlier. She kept her phone out and hit send over and over again, getting denied each time. She climbed the ladder as high as she could before arriving at the sewer grate. The hatch itself was locked, but she could fit her fingers through the drain that led to the street easily enough. She stuck her phone out through the drain, hit send again, and finally the video sent. 

 

“Yes!” she chirped, a little too loudly. 

 

She heard a low rumble from beneath her, a growl so deep it shook her ribcage. She did not have enough time to turn and look below the ladder before a massive paw wrapped around her torso and squeezed tightly. Her phone fell onto the drain above the ladder and she let out a howl as her ribcage ignited in agony. Her captor was a lion so large he made Delgato look like a cub. His teeth were bared, and he continued to growl as fiery eyes inspected her. 

 

Judy tried to reach for her tranq that was tucked underneath her shirt but could not reach over the massive paw that held her. Then she tried instead to bite her way out, sank her large front teeth into the side of his paw and bit down as hard as she could. If the lion felt any pain, he did not show it, and even as Judy began to feel the metallic taste of blood in her mouth, he did not even blink. She picked a new spot and bit again, this time earning a tighter squeeze from the predator, causing her to scream again in agony as her ribs squeezed together.

 

“I’ve been bitten by mammals much larger than you, bunny,” he growled, his accent apparent. 

 

She continued to wince as the lion carried her back towards the ramp and the doors that led to the room where the others were meeting. She felt like baggage as she swayed back and forth in her captor’s stride. She was trained in a thousand ways to take down a predator of his size, but her best method of escaping captivity like this was no use on this mammal.

 

She looked up from his paw, watching as they approached the meeting in plain view. The others took notice of the lion long before they saw the squirming rabbit in his paw. 

 

“There you are, Jad-Bal-Ja,” Pumar said with a polite smile. “We waited for you.”

 

“Found a snack trying to escape in the tunnels,” the lion said and held Judy up for all to see. 

 

The leather-clad terrorists looked at her with a passive sense of satisfaction, while Terrence’s eyes jumped open as he nervously looked between her and Pumar. Victor Pumar’s eyes narrowed angrily at her, and Skye looked at her with a tense glare.

 

Nick’s eyes were not on her. Instead, he was looking around the room with a focused expression. It looked as though he was searching for something among the company of terrorists. 

 

“She’s a cop!” Terrence shouted from behind Pumar. The Dravec members went from looking at her hungrily to surprised and cautious. All the mammals in the room turned to Pumar, fearing that a police raid was imminent.

 

“Relax, gentlemammals,” Nick’s voice chimed in. He was back to wearing his smug and practiced smile on his face and leaned against the large concrete column beside him, his body language calm and collected. 

 

“You know this bunny?” one of the Dravec asked, his English more than a little broken. 

 

“Yeah, I do, and I know that if she were a cop right now, we would be dead. Just look at her! No badge, barely able to fight, not even a uniform. The chief probably placed her on medical leave and sent her home after getting a bullet in the vest,” Nick reasoned. 

 

“So you’re saying she’s here alone?” Pumar clarified. 

 

“If she had backup with her, there’s no way they would let her into this situation without intervening by now,” Nick said and shot her a satisfied look, as if to say,  _ isn’t that right? _

 

“Ah, well then,” Pumar said, rifling through his overcoat for something. “That means this has an easy solution.” He pulled out a shiny, silver-plated pistol and unclipped the safety by the handle. Judy’s eyes went wide and she stopped struggling for a moment. “Release her; she’s not going anywhere.”

 

Judy hit the ground with a thud and she winced, covering her chest with one paw and holding herself up with the other. She spat out the lion’s blood that was lingering in her mouth and wiped her lips, surveying her situation. She could try to run, but she was injured and completely surrounded. There was no way she could fight them all off herself. The one thing she did have was her tranq tucked behind her that had gone unnoticed by everyone else so far. She only had one round, so she would need to make it count. 

 

Skye had fallen in behind her between a few of the buyers, cutting her off completely. Nick was looking at Pumar hesitantly as he walked towards her. The large mountain lion knelt down and smiled at her. She could smell something vile in his breath with how close he was to her. His gun was still pointed at the ground.

 

“You said you’d find me, didn’t you?” Pumar said, and smiled. “Well done, Officer Hopps. You’ve continued to amaze me time and time again. I was certain you were down for the count after your little stunt on the train, but you had one more hat trick for us, didn’t you, little bunny?”

 

She glared back at him with narrowed eyes. His smug smile was infuriating; he was taking such deep satisfaction with his gloating. He stood, and with the paw that was nursing her wounded ribcage, Judy grasped her tranq pistol that remained tucked away. He expected him to pull his gun up and fire at any moment, and she was ready. Perhaps if she dropped him, she could run for cover and hold out until backup arrived, which should be about six minutes more. 

 

Instead, he turned and walked towards the nearest pillar where Nick was still standing. He held out his gun with the handle facing towards Nick.

 

“Don’t miss this time,” he instructed. Nick’s eyes widened a little, and he shot a quick glance at Judy and then back at Pumar. 

 

“This was never part of the deal,” Nick protested.

 

“I’m making it part of the deal. Pull the trigger, or you’ll get nothing,” Pumar said coldly. Nick frowned, took the pistol out of Pumar’s paw and cocked it back. 

 

“Fine,” he said with a scowl and made his way towards Judy. 

 

Her eyes were wide and she looked up at Nick in shock. He had an angry frown on his face as he looked at her. He was quiet for a moment, feeling the eyes of every predator surrounding them. He did not speak; instead, he raised the weapon and pointed it directly at Judy. She kept her grip on her tranq but was frozen in place. She was seeing it, but she still could not believe it. 

 

“How did you do it?” Nick asked.

 

“Wilde, we don’t have time for this,” Terrence protested. 

 

“Come on, Vick,” Nick said and smiled back at Pumar. “Aren’t you curious? We’ve had the whole of the ZPD  _ and _ the ZBI chasing their tails all over the place, but this one bunny is the only one who could find us, and she found us at every turn. Don’t you want to hear how she did it?”

 

Pumar scowled and shot his clients a quick glance. They seemed more than happy to indulge Nick on his curiosity. After he was satisfied it would not impede the deal, he nodded and let their last-minute entertainment continue. Nick looked back at her and nodded. 

 

“Go ahead, Hopps. You’ve always loved telling our crooks how we caught them. I’m not gonna deny you the satisfaction here,” he said. 

 

Judy’s eyes narrowed for a moment, not in anger but in confusion. It was always Nick who gave their crooks all the details after catching them. He would often drone on and on as they drove their perps back to the precinct in the back of their cruiser, and she was always content to let him take the satisfaction in their work. 

 

“I . . .um,” she stuttered. If nothing else, this could help eat up some time before backup arrived. “I got a picture of you, Pumar, and Terrence getting in the van in the Rainforest District from the ZBI. They wanted you dead, so I searched on my own. I started with Finnick.”

 

“Should have guessed,” Nick said with a nod. “Thought that kid would get out of town like I suggested.”

 

_ Kid? _ Judy thought. Finnick was older than Nick was. 

 

“He . . . he told me about a friend of his named Spitz who had been bragging about earning good money doing scavenging jobs for a new mystery boss. He hadn’t heard from Spitz in a while, so I went looking for him,” she remembered.

 

“Was his majesty King Bogo okay with you going alone?” Nick asked. He was taking satisfaction in milking the details, a wicked smile on his face.

 

“No,” she said. “I took Wolford. We went to Spitz’s house where we found his body rotting in the basement.” Judy then turned and looked over at Terrence, who was frowning at her from the sidelines. “We also found your handywork, Dr. Whiskberg.” His eyes went wide at the mention of his full name. 

 

“How did you know it was me?” Terrence asked with a frown. 

 

“Your scent-nullifying jars were a good trick,” she commended him. “It kept his stench from reaching any of the neighbors, but I’d bet you didn’t even go there to kill him. You went in to collect his haul of water heaters and found out he was running his mouth just a bit too much. Or maybe he found out something he wasn’t supposed to. Either way, you gunned him down on the spot and mixed together a few jars of your scent diffuser to buy you time. Then you tried to leave using his car.”

 

“I dusted the place! How could you have kno--” he began, but Judy interrupted him.

 

“The car didn’t start, did it?” she asked him, which shut the ocelot up quickly. “You couldn’t carry the water heaters with you, so you shoved them in the refrigerator hoping we wouldn’t check there and left on foot. You cleaned the house well enough; we found no trace of you in there, not even a pawprint. But you left a strand of fur in the keychain when you tried to start his truck.”

 

“But I have a clean criminal record! You wouldn’t have been able to trace DNA to me through the records!” Terrence shouted angrily. 

 

“True,” Judy agreed. “But something else I heard from Finnick was that there was someone out there looking to buy pool-cleaning chemicals underground. Found an arrest report of one William Vanderhoof on charges of dealing nip. When he was busted, he had chlorine with him, saying it was for one of his clients, and that was too odd not to take a closer look.”

 

“Ah, Willie,” Nick said with a smile. “Can’t say I know many dik-diks, so it’s hard to forget a face like his.” Nick was really having fun inserting his own commentary into her story.

 

“Right. So I . . .  _ we _ found Willie and asked him about his chlorine client. I showed him the picture and he confirmed it was you, Dr. Whiskberg,” she said and turned back to Terrence. “I had my team dig around, and we found you in the files for the Nighthowler case from years back. I saw your whole history from there. You fell far, Terrence, and the prey of this city made life really hard for you. I went to question your ex-wife to learn more.”

 

Pumar shot Terrence a sideways glance, causing the ocelot to duck his head lower in shame for leading Judy so far in her investigation. 

 

“She’s a real piece of work, isn’t she?” Nick asked her, rolling his eyes in contempt for Terrence’s ex-wife. The gun in his paw wavered as he gestured back to Terrence. “You’re better off without her, Terry.”

 

“She told me that you had recently paid for your son to leave town this week,” Judy continued, looking at Terrence. “I guessed that you were the type of mammal who needs to be doubly sure of things before moving forward, so I checked the Savanna Central Station cameras for your son’s departure, and that’s when I found both you and Pumar in that black sedan.” 

 

Pumar’s face went from slightly curious to darkly focused. He did not seem to like how many missteps his team had taken to get her to them. Judy liked seeing him perturbed, so she continued, looking over at the stern mountain lion.

 

“We traced that car to the outside of a self-storage business at the docks. We raided the place but found nothing.”

 

“You have no idea how close you were then,” Nick said with a laugh. “The boys and I were hiding up in one of those storage units ready to blow you all away. That would have made things harder going with three dead cops, so I called in a favor to Ms. Frost over here to get you guys to chase a different tail, so to speak,” Nick explained, looking over at Skye with a smile. “And boy, did she.”

 

Judy grunted in frustration with how close she was. Had she spent more time checking out the storage unit, this whole nightmare would have been over then and there. But when she heard a fox was being chased by the ZBI, she could not leave the scene fast enough. They played her like a piano.

 

“We chased her down,” Judy continued, “but she got away. My team went back to the storage unit, but the car was gone. All that was left was a wet rag. I figured one of you wiped the rain off the car and left the rag behind, and Zootopia has been in a bit of a dry spell recently, except for one place.”

 

“The Rainforest District,” Nick said with an impressed nod. 

 

“Exactly,” she said confidently. She inched a little closer to Nick, who still had his gun pointed right at her. If she could distract them and get close enough, she might be able to wrestle the gun away from him. “We looked at the traffic cameras for the car heading into the Rainforest District, but we never found it. What we did see, though, was some movement in the canopy. That led us to the sky tram and back to the car. From there all we had to do was trace out your possible escape routes and check each one. But . . .” Judy said, recalling what happened to Pumar. 

 

“We had our little chat then, didn’t we?” Pumar said from behind Nick. He was cross but took some pleasure in Judy remembering her wounded friend. 

 

“Yes,” Judy said with an angry glare. “I told you I would find you, and I did. We traced you to your hiding spot in the Rainforest District and got the green light for a full T.U.S.K. raid. I had you right there . . .” she said, turning back to Nick. 

 

“Yeah,” Nick said, feigning sorrow, “no idea how you got on the train from the third floor, Carrots. I like to imagine you flapped your ears like wings and flew,” he joked, earning a laugh from the crowd. “Sorry about the rib, by the way, I bet that stings. I was aiming for your head, but you know me: I’ve always been a lousy shot.”

 

_ Cheese and crackers, _ she thought. That one was definitely a lie, and Judy wondered what Nick was up to. There was a chance he was just trying to mess with her, but Nick always had some trick up his sleeve. She did have one idea that may have been wishful thinking, so she decided to test her theory.

 

“Yeah,” she agreed. “You never had much beginner’s luck, did you?”

 

Judy saw the corner of Nick’s mouth turn up very subtly. “Nope. That was always you, Carrots,” he said eagerly. 

 

_ He’s stalling! _ Judy realized. She wanted to laugh, to slap that stupid fox across his snout and to hold onto him tightly at the same time. This whole time he was just trying to get her to talk so he could think up a way out. She looked at him as he pointed the weapon directly at her. He was as steady as a statue, and his finger was off of the trigger. Nick had no idea that backup was only a few minutes from kicking in the door, so she needed to tell him without getting them both shot.  _ Think, Judy, think! _

 

“Quit your blabbering, Wilde. I think we’ve had about enough,” Pumar scolded him. 

 

Nick laughed and looked over his shoulder at Pumar with a childlike look of eagerness on his face.

 

“Aw, come on, she’s almost done! Don’t you want to know how she survived the shot?” he asked him. Curiosity was getting the better of Pumar in that moment, so he simply nodded. The rest of their audience looked a little amused by the story as well. The short back-and-forth was just enough time for Judy to get an idea. 

 

“The T.U.S.K. vest caught the bullet, but I fell _ten_ bounds into the river, which knocked me out cold,” Judy said, keeping a serious glare on her face. She bit her lip, hoping Nick would catch on.

 

“Ten bounds?” he asked and gave an impressed whistle, “For those of us who aren’t bunnies, how many feet is that?”

 

“About 94,” Judy answered sharply.  _ Come on, Nick. A 10-94 is a call for backup. You’re the only other cop in the room, tell me you got that! _

 

“Really?” he said with a raised eyebrow. “I thought ten bounds was only four stories tall.” Judy nodded slightly and caught his slip-up. 

 

_ 10-4 _ , she thought. He was telling her he understood. 

 

“A bound is around nine feet, Wilde,” Terrence corrected him from the side. Pumar was less than happy about the interruption, but Nick waved him off. 

 

“I’m assuming someone came to keep you from drowning?” Nick asked her. 

 

“Yeah, one of the ZBI fished me out and gave me CPR,” she explained. 

 

“Lucky you had someone come and help. How long did that take them?” he asked. The specific question was a little odd to her. She stuttered for a moment, before realizing what he was really asking for:  _ how long until backup arrives?  _

 

“About three minutes,” she answered. “After that, Chief put me on medical leave and thinks I’m losing my mind on pain meds.”

 

“Alright, Wilde, that’s enough!” Pumar shouted. His stare was angry now, his patience all but drained. Judy guessed that she had another twelve seconds to stall before she was forced into making a move. 

 

“Ok, ok, I’m sorry, everyone, for going into overtime here,” Nick said, trying to calm him down and shooting an apologetic look to the other predators around him. 

 

“I’ve got one more question,” Skye chimed in from the side. Her voice was cold and commanding, and she had her arms folded across her chest as she looked at Nick with a frown. “How did she find us here?”

 

Nick looked down at Judy and raised his eyebrows in intrigue. “Well?” he asked her expectantly. 

 

“Um . . .” she stuttered, knowing full well that the honest answer would let everyone in the room know Nick’s true intentions. 

 

“Go ahead, Carrots,” he said softly. She nodded and kept her eyes on Nick as she spoke. 

 

“I knew you all would be here because I knew _ you  _ would pick this place,” Judy said as confidently as she could. Pumar’s eyes widened a bit as he looked between the two of them. 

  
“And why did I choose this place?” he asked her. His tone had changed. He wasn’t projecting loudly like he was performing on stage, nor was he using his dry wit like he usually did when pulling a hustle. It was like he and Judy were the only two in the room. 

 

“For the same reason you had that black car registered to a name I would recognize, and the same reason you left such specific notes in the arrest record for Willie. It’s the same reason you told Finnick about what leads to give me and the same reason you keep wearing that stupid shirt,” she said and pointed an accusing finger at him. He smiled and pulled at the logo on his t-shirt under his tattered buttondown. 

 

“So you did get the ‘Sweet’ message!” he said with a sly look. 

 

“‘Fox on the Run’? I bet you think you’re pretty clever,” she said, shaking her head. By now, the rest of the group had begun to catch on to what they were saying and stood on edge. They were no longer entertained; instead they were getting more and more aggressive and tense. 

 

“I’m confused,” Terrence said. “What is she talking about?” 

 

“I found you because Nick led me here,” she said, loud enough for all present to hear. 

 

Nick’s smile changed. Before it was his self-satisfied smirk he wore whenever he knew something that others didn’t. Now, it softened into a look he only had for her. The same smile he gave her after she first pinned his badge on his chest, a look he only gave to her in their most tender moments alone. 

 

“That’s my girl,” he said softly. 

“Wilde, is that true?” Pumar asked slowly. He was upright and took a few steps towards Nick. Nick’s expression hardened, and in one smooth motion, he brought the gun away from Judy’s face and pointed it directly at Pumar. His finger folded around the trigger and his aim steadied as Nick demonstrated just how well he could handle a weapon. 

“Take another step, Pumar,” Nick growled. The other mammals in the room growled angrily at Nick, claws unsheathing and teeth bared in all directions. Judy held firm onto her tranq, waiting for the right opportunity to move, but backup was still too far away. She had to believe Nick knew what he was doing. Two members of the Dravec placed their paws in their pockets, reaching for their weapons. 

“Oh, Wilde,” Pumar said with a disappointed shake of his head, “I wanted to believe.”

“Shut up,” Nick spat. His teeth were bared as well and he gripped his pistol tighter. “I’ve given up way too much to get right here. My badge is gone, my mother won’t look at me, and I shot my own partner in the chest. She was the best part of my life, and I _shot_ her. You, Pumar? You filled my friend full of bullets, so I don’t need to blink to end you right here and now. So please, take another step. _”_

Pumar did not speak. For a moment, all he did was frown at Wilde as if he were a father who caught his son stealing. He scoffed, huffing a breath out his nose, and he defiantly took one more step forward. 

“Thanks,” Nick said, and pulled the trigger. 

_ *Click* _

Nick looked at the weapon in his paw with wide eyes. Pumar had given him the gun without any rounds, and now he was defenseless and surrounded by the kind of predators who enjoyed ripping mammals apart with their teeth. 

“Oh . . .” Nick stuttered. “Okay, well then . . .” The members of the Dravec were slowly approaching now, and Terrence had pulled out his own weapon, fiddling with it nervously. “How we doing on time, Carrots?”

“90 seconds at best,” Judy said and stood beside him, keeping her eyes on a swivel and her ears perched up high, ready for the first move. “Tell me you have a plan.”

Nick smiled. “Skye, if you would be so kind?”

Judy heard the unmistakable sound of pressurized air flinging darts out of a barrel. She turned and found one of the Dravec terrorists on his way down with maybe one more second of consciousness remaining. Skye had a tranquilizer pistol out and turned it towards the large lion who had carried Judy into the room. She fired twice, scoring two hits into his neck and chest. 

“You!” the lion roared and stepped forward. Skye grunted and let two more darts fly, both hitting the lion square on target. He growled and took a wavering step forward. Finally, he had enough and fell to the ground with a loud thud. 

“Go!” Nick barked from behind Judy and began running. She sprang forward and ran along with him past the downed terrorists just before the bullets started flying. They dove behind the nearest concrete column as white-hot metal whizzed by them. A few pieces of concrete flew from the column as a few close shots nearly hit their mark. Judy looked across the room, seeing Skye take shelter behind the column on the opposite side of the room. From what Judy could hear, their enemies had spread out. 

“We can’t let them get in that train car,” Judy said and pulled out her tranq pistol. “Do you have another weapon on you?”

“Only my charming smile,” Nick said, risking a quick peek around the column before withdrawing back behind it as another wave of rounds flew by. 

“Darnit, I only have one round!” Judy cursed. 

“What? Why didn’t you pack more?!” Nick blabbered loudly over the sound of gunfire echoing off the walls. 

“Are you seriously starting an argument with me right now, Slick? I swear, I will drop you as soon as backup gets here.”

“Okay, okay,” Nick hushed her. “Skye’s got more rounds.”

  
“I’m assuming she’s with you, then?” 

“She’s with us, yes,” Nick clarified, taking note of the bullets flying in the space between them and Skye. “You want to waltz over there and get them, be my guest.” 

Judy was about to argue back when she looked behind Nick and noticed a spare train wheel leaned up against the wall beside the column. 

“Good idea,” she said and ran over towards the wheel. 

“Wait, what?” Nick balked. 

“Help me!” she ordered as she got behind the large steel wheel and heaved. Nick caught on quickly and helped her stand the wheel on its edge. They rolled it a few feet and aimed it down the room towards where Skye was taking shelter. 

“Skye!” Nick called out. “Covering fire!” 

The white vixen nodded and lunged out from behind the pillar and let a few rounds fly. The gunfire slowed, and Judy and Nick pushed as hard as they could. The steel wheel rolled against the concrete floor, and Nick and Judy ran along with it as it rolled, keeping their heads low. More rounds of gunfire began to fly, a few of them striking the wheel with a loud ping. 

Skye took the opportunity and let one more round fly towards one of the terrorists shooting at the wheel. It landed just under his ribcage, and he clutched his side before rolling onto the ground in silence. Judy and Nick dove as the wheel collided with the pillar with a clang and fell over. 

“Got one,” Skye said and loaded in three more rounds into her pistol. “That leaves one more of the freaks, Terry, and Victor.”

“Do you have any more rounds?” Judy asked. The vixen cocked an eyebrow and rifled through her pockets for a moment. Nick kept his eyes out for any movement around them. The vixen frowned.

“That big guy took more than I was planning on. All I’ve got are the three in the clip,” Skye said. “That makes four shots between us.”

“Alright,” Judy said. “That should be enough to hold them off before backup arrives.”

“Shouldn’t backup have stormed in by now?” Nick asked. It was a good question. Judy had faith that Clawhauser would get Chief to mobilize the entire precinct within seconds of seeing that message. It should only take them a few minutes to arrive, but Judy had not even heard any sirens yet. 

“I told them Banyan Street Station, but if they are still on the street they might not hear us down here,” Judy suggested.

Skye and Nick looked at each other for a moment, both nodding. Whatever it was they were thinking, they seemed to agree on it. 

“Do it,” Nick said with a nod. 

“Do what?” Judy asked, and Nick smiled at her again. 

“Tsk-tsk, Carrots. You really think we came down here without some kind of backup plan?” Skye reached down to her ankle underneath her pant leg and pulled out a small black device with a safeguard and trigger on it. Judy’s eyes widened for a moment. 

“You’re going to blow the train?!” Judy hissed.

“Not the train,” Skye said with a smirk and pulled the trigger. From behind them came a loud and forceful shock that erupted from the doorway that led down the same tunnel Judy followed to find them. The sound of debris striking the walls followed. Judy looked up to Nick and back at the doorway towards the tunnel. 

“You blew the tracks,” she realized. 

“That train isn’t going anywhere now,” Nick said with a satisfied smirk. 

“I bet your cop friends heard th--LOOK OUT!” Skye shouted and shoved Judy down. A massive paw reached around the pillar and slammed into Skye’s chest, causing her to fly back and collide with the concrete wall on the other side. Judy dodged another swipe and backed up away from the pillar as the leather-clad snow leopard snarled at them angrily. Clearly he was out of ammunition and decided to throw caution to the wind in anger.

“Carrots!” Nick called out as the monster swept his leg, catching Judy and toppling her over. She clutched at her chest with a groan as her ribcage lit up again. The snow leopard poised a foot just above Judy’s head, ready to crush her. Before he brought his foot down, Judy heard more darts fly and saw the leopard wince. He reached behind him, attempting to swipe the darts off of his back, but soon fell down in fatigue as the drugs set in. Judy looked down and saw Skye on the ground wincing in pain as she dropped her tranq pistol to the floor, the barrel still steaming.

“Skye!” Nick hissed as he picked her up and propped her up against the pillar. 

“I’m fine, he just got me by surprise,” she said and feigned a tough face. Judy noticed a small spattering of blood on Skye’s torso where his claws found her. She placed a paw on Skye’s shoulder and nodded. 

“Thanks.” 

“Don’t mention it,” the vixen said with a smirk. “It’s only Terry and Victor now, and from the sounds of it, they’re running low on ammo.”

“We got all the buyers,” Nick said, keeping his ears and eyes out for anyone else approaching. “That just leav---”

“Victor? . . . Pumar?!” Terrence’s voice called out frantically. Judy could hear the panic in his voice from across the room. 

“Huh,” Skye said, taken a little by surprise. “Did Pumar bug out?”

“Not a chance,” Nick said quietly. “He’s out there, just keeping his distance from the spaz-cat. He’ll use Terry’s ambling to draw one of us out.”

“We should hold this position until backup gets here,” Judy suggested. “Can’t be much longer now.”

“What if he does bug out?” Skye asked. “If he slips out through the tunnels, he could be back in Zootopia with new weapons and buyers in time for the holidays.”

“That’s not happening,” Nick said, laying his back against the pillar and peering around edge. Whatever he saw, it set his ears up a little higher. He turned back around and looked at Judy fondly for a moment. “Remember, Carrots, let the shot surprise you.”

“What are you talking about Nick?” Judy asked nervously. 

“In three . . . two . . .” he whispered. 

“Nick, wait!” 

“One!” he shouted and darted from behind cover. Judy saw him jump and roll on the ground, trying his best to keep his path unpredictable. The flurry of gunshots that followed was immediate, and Judy reflexively lunged out from behind the column, holding her tranq up high. 

She immediately noticed Terrence unloading whatever was in his clip down range towards Nick. Keeping her right arm strong and her left arm loose, she lined up Terrence in her sights and relaxed her eyes, letting her finger droop across the trigger. The dart was flying before she noticed the kick from her pistol. It sailed up into the air and across the room silently. Judy could hear the thud as the dart connected with Terrence’s neckline. He howled and hissed for a moment, grasping at the dart and yanking it from his jugular. It did him little good, for he fell to the ground a moment later. 

“Nick!” she cried out, looking around frantically for the fox. The insane maneuver had allowed her the window to drop the ocelot, but at the risk of his own life! He thankfully looked uninjured laying on his paws and knees in the center of the room. His gaze was fierce and his eyes were wide, and he barely moved enough to breathe. Judy followed his gaze towards the door that led back to the train car and explosives. 

She froze as well when she saw Pumar standing tall and aiming his sidearm directly at Nick’s head. 

“Come on out, Officer Hopps,” he said coldly, keeping his eyes on Nick. “I know you’re all out of darts.”

“Carrots, stay in cover,” Nick urged her. Pumar fired, the round clipping Nick’s ear on one side and causing him to howl in pain as he clutched the side of his head. A stream of blood began to seep between his fingers. He looked back up at Pumar and growled angrily.

“Care to wager another shot, Officer? I don’t think I’ll miss twice.”

 

“Stay back, Judy!” Nick barked, keeping his paw on his ear.

 

Judy breathed in heavily through her nose, holding her position and trying her best to think of a way to get Nick out. She used her only round to keep Nick from getting shot, and backup was still nowhere to be found.

 

“Three . . .” Pumar began, “two . . .”

 

“Alright!” Judy gave in and stepped out from behind the column with her paws in the air. Only Skye remained in cover, and Judy had to trust that she would find a way to help them out.

 

“Ah, there she is,” Pumar said with a fond smile slowly growing on his face. He stood with a commanding presence over Nick in the middle of the room with his overcoat and tie still perfectly in place. Nick looked at Judy with a widening sense of panic. “I’m glad you could join us.”

 

“Judy!” Nick said in astonishment.

 

“Ah, ah, ah,” Pumar scolded him. “She deserves credit when it’s due. Never known a bunny with such bravery. Truly, Officer Hopps, you are the best of your species.” Pumar began rifling through his coat pocket for something as he spoke. “But in the end, you are a bunny, and try as you might, you will never be a real predator.”

 

Pumar pulled out a small vial from his coat pocket, containing a handful of bright blue capsules that looked similar to breath mints.

 

“I’m guessing those aren’t headache meds,” Nick quipped.

 

“No, Wilde. I had Dr. Whiskberg whip these up.” The capsules clinked in the vial as the mountain lion jostled them about. The vial made a very bright chime as the capsules jostled about. “Nighthowler poison is a vile and barbaric substance. When he was infected, Dr. Whiskberg said he could not remember a thing, and I have no interest in mindless rage.”

 

_ Keep talking, _ Judy thought. The longer he droned on, the more likely it was that backup would arrive.

 

“But,” Pumar continued, “If you dilute the dose down and mix it with a few other natural elements that keep the mind sharp, the resulting effect is magnificent: heightened senses, faster reflexes, and a practically euphoric feeling when you finally sink your teeth in.” He opened the lid on the vial and rolled one of the capsules around on his thumb.

 

“Pumar,” Nick warned him, “you don’t know what that stuff will do to you.”

 

“I beg to differ, Wilde. I have tested it before, and I must say I look forward to what happens next. After all, I could just shoot her, then you, and be done with it. But after your betrayal, I don’t think my clients will mind if I enjoy myself a little bit,” Pumar finished with a smile and popped the capsule into his maw.

 

“Don’t!” Judy shouted. “You won’t control yourself if you go savage.”

 

“Savage?” Pumar scoffed. “No, not savage. More like primal.” He bit down.

 

The capsule popped in his mouth and the effects were practically immediate. His eyes dilated and the fur on his body stood at attention. He groaned as a wave of powerful sensations coursed through his body. The claws from his paws began to unsheathe themselves, dragging against the black metal of the gun he still had pointed at Nick’s head. He smiled a little, clearly enjoying the experience. Judy’s nose began to twitch reflexively as the now violent mammal looked at her hungrily.

 

Pumar raised the gun upwards towards the ceiling and pulled the trigger a half-dozen times. The gun rang out with a loud bang each time, until the slide locked up and he was completely out of ammo. He tossed the empty gun to the floor and smiled at them. 

“Who’s first?”

 

Nick took advantage of Pumar having his attention on Judy and kicked off the ground towards Pumar, aiming a kick at his knee. The nimble lion shifted to one side, easily dodging Nick’s kick and causing him to tumble behind him. Judy took off and rushed in to help.

 

Pumar growled deeply and lunged at Nick with a swipe so fast it looked like a blur. Nick ducked low and backpedaled away from his next few swipes. Judy took the opportunity while Pumar was distracted to land a hard kick to the back of Pumar’s knees, causing them to bend and shift his weight to one side. Nick struck next and pounced forward, landing a hard punch to Pumar’s jawline. His balance now shifted downward and he began to fall. Before colliding with the ground, he whirled his forepaws around and caught himself.

He sprang down on his paws and kicked backwards with both legs, landing a hard hit to Nick’s midsection. He flew back and rolled onto his side, groaning with a heavy ache in his torso. Judy was already behind Pumar, ready to land a strike at his eyes next. Before she could, he caught her leg with one paw and swung around his shoulder, tossing her like a stuffed toy towards where Nick landed. She curled in the air and rolled with the fall, springing back up and staring her enemy down. Her chest ached again, causing her to wince.

 

“I was hoping you’d make this fun, Officer Hopps!” Pumar said with a laugh. Before he could spring forward again, Skye appeared from behind him and twisted his paw behind his back. She skillfully leveraged her body weight onto his wrist and toppled him over, causing him to grunt as he hit the ground.

 

Furious, Pumar lashed out with his claws and swiped at her legs. Skye leapt over them and planted one foot firmly on his nose, kicking hard and flipping off of him before he could land any more strikes.

 

“You!” he roared loudly at Skye, who backed away towards the other two. She held one paw on her side, nursing her injury from earlier. Pumar rose and dug through his coat pocket for the vial, popping another capsule into his mouth and growling angrily. 

 

“Do you have a plan?” Nick asked Skye.

 

“Yeah. Kick his ass,” Skye said confidently and darted forward. Judy followed shortly behind and ran towards the snarling predator.

 

“Do you ever have a plan that doesn’t involve physical pain?!” Nick shouted as he fell into a sprint behind them.

 

Pumar growled and set his legs to pounce before exploding forward and swiping at Skye. Before he could make any contact, she slid on her side like a softball player trying to catch home plate. She slid between his legs underneath his claws and popped back up behind him. As he whirled around to try and catch her again, Judy leapt forward and caught his dangling necktie.

 

She swung her legs forward and used her momentum to swing around his neck and wrap his tie tightly around his throat. She landed on his back and gave the tie a yank, causing the large predator to stand up and reach his paws behind his head, trying to swat her off. She held her grip strong and pulled, avoiding his massive claws as he waved them around aimlessly.

 

“Nick!” Judy called out and yanked her weight backwards, pulling his head up and exposing his chest. Nick took the opportunity to land a strong double kick to the center of his chest. Judy hopped off just in time before the large predator’s back collided with the large steel door that led to the tracks with a thud.

 

“Nice work,” Skye commended her. Whatever moment Pumar took to regain his senses was long gone. He snarled at the three of them, his eyes darting between them, unsure of whom to be angry at the most. His lips rose above his teeth in an angry snarl and his shoulders arched upwards, as if he were stalking his prey.

 

“Can we change the plan to running now?” Nick asked with a gulp.

 

Judy’s ear twitched. She could definitely hear some kind of commotion coming from the subway tunnel behind Pumar. Whether from his natural abilities or because of his heightened senses with the drugs, Pumar noticed the sound as well.

 

“Ragh!” Pumar roared and placed a paw on the large steel door that he slammed into earlier. The massive door rolled on its hinges and slammed with a clang that echoed off the walls. He jammed the lock down, effectively cutting off any support for at least another minute, if not longer.

 

“You . . .” Pumar growled like rumbling thunder. He looked around at the collection of sleeping buyers who were now sitting ducks for the incoming police. “You’ve ruined me.”

 

“Give it up, Pumar,” Judy called out. “McHorn will make easy work with that door.”

 

“By the time they get through, I’ll be long gone. But right now, you are in my way,” he said and stepped forward.

 

“Hold him here,” Judy told Nick and Skye. “We can’t let him escape out the other door.”

 

There wasn’t any time to think of a plan. Pumar darted forward with lightning speed and kept his eyes on Judy. She prepped her legs to leap out of the way, but before she did, he took a surprising turn on his forepaws. Using the claws on his feet, he grasped at Skye’s leg and cut into her thigh. She whined in pain as the claws scratched her skin and fell to the ground. He carried her another stride forward before flipping her over and slamming her onto the concrete ground hard.

 

Skye gasped for air but found none of it returning to her chest. Judy leapt after Pumar who dodged her kick and threw Skye like a rag doll at both her and Nick. They caught the wounded vixen and kept her head from hitting the concrete a second time.

 

“You alright?” Judy asked Skye quickly.

 

“Gagh—go!” she said and pointed to Pumar, who was making his way for the other door, which he dove through and disappeared into darkness behind it. With the fresh gash on her leg, Judy was positive she wouldn’t be able to chase after him. Nick gently laid her head down and took off after Pumar, Judy following quickly behind him.

 

The two of them dove headfirst into the dimly lit tunnel that the other door led to. They wheeled about, looking for any sign of which direction he went in.

 

“Hear anything?” Nick asked her.

 

She did. Pumar was still standing at the doorway, waiting for them to follow him in. He grunted and heaved the door closed, slamming it loudly. He kicked at the door handle and bent the knob downward, jamming the door closed.

 

“If they find you now,” Pumar said, pulling the vial of capsules from his coat pocket again, “they’ll need to pick you out of my teeth!”

 

With that, he opened the vial up and shoved the entire contents into his mouth, chewing them all with gusto.

“Okay, now we run!” Judy said and took Nick’s paw in hers. They ran as fast as they could down the dark subway tunnel. Pumar groaned and writhed in agony as the capsules began to overtake his senses. The pills seemed to cause him immense distress, which gave them just enough time to get a head start.

 

They came to a junction between two tunnels where tracks merged and split apart. The area was so dark that Judy could barely see the tracks beneath her feet, let alone a few meters behind her. The only light source she had was a dim red light that signaled trains as they passed by. Judy tripped on a track switch, but Nick caught her.

 

“I’ll be your eyes, you be my ears,” Nick whispered and held onto her paw firmly, guiding her along the tracks. She felt an odd wetness in his paw, realizing it was blood from when he covered his ear after Pumar shot him.

 

“Your ear,” Judy said softly. “He’ll smell the wound.”

 

Nick looked down at his paw for a moment, his eyes widening as he got an idea. He reached up to his head and rubbed his paw into his bleeding ear, wincing in pain as he did so. His paw was now covered in a fresh coat of blood. As they walked along, Nick smeared a print of blood along the wall.

 

“What are you doing?” she asked.

 

“He has heightened senses, right?” Nick said and began to smear his scent on all corners of the junction. “I can buy us some time if I can get him going in circles.”

 

Pumar’s roar was loud and thunderous, echoing off the dark subway tunnels from behind them. He seemed to regain his senses enough to begin hunting them again, so they did not have much time. Nick guided her in between a small space between two utility lockers. The space was too small for Pumar to reach them easily.

 

“Stay here, you’ll be safe,” Nick said. “I’ll lay a scent trail down that tunnel. Once he’s followed me down, go back and get backup.”

 

“What, I’m supposed to watch him go by as he goes after you? That’s not happening,” Judy protested.

 

“He’ll find us both if we stick together,” Nick said. He looked down the tunnel they came from nervously. Judy herself was straining to see anything beyond the tip of Nick’s nose.

 

“We’ll think of something,” Judy said, looking for anything that might help. It was too dark.

 

“I already have,” Nick said and reached into his pocket, pulling out his phone. “I love you.”

 

Nick’s flashlight from his phone lit up and shined right into Judy’s eyes. She groaned and recoiled away from the painfully bright white light piercing her eyes. She winced, trying in vain to see anything in front of her, but the afterimage from the flashlight was overwhelming. She took a moment to rub her eyes, but her ears picked up the sound of footsteps as Nick vanished into the opposite subway tunnel.

 

“Nick!” she cursed, reaching out with her paw in the empty space where his face was a moment before. The fox was gone.

 

A moment later, she heard another low rumble. Judy held her breath tight and held her ears up tall as the sound of a predator with murderous intentions filled the junction. He was close, but she could only see the silhouette of his overcoat as he stepped slowly beside the only dim light to be seen. She could hear him breathing through gritted teeth, coughing a short snarl every few seconds. The pills were driving him into madness.

 

He sniffed the air, following Nick’s blood trail around the room. His soft paws silently glided over the tracks and carefully found their way through the darkness with ease. The only thing keeping him from seeming like a complete savage was the fact that he was still up on two legs.

 

“Hughh . . Erghh . . .” he growled as he pounced from one paw mark to the next. The last one coming right next to Judy’s hiding spot. He stayed for a moment, growling lowly and sniffing at the air beside the metal utility lockers. She held her breath and kept perfectly still.

 

Judy heard a noise from the tunnel where Nick disappeared. Pumar noticed as well. He growled louder and began to follow the sound and scent of Nick down the next tunnel. Pumar was fast, and it was only a matter of time before he caught up to Nick.

 

Judy stepped out from cover and stalked Pumar as he continued to sniff and snarl. She watched his movements, noting how sporadic and sharp they were. He was completely different than the calm and collected killer he was before. His mind was barely even there.

 

“Pumar,” Judy called out. He hissed and turned around, the yellow of his eyes practically glowing in the dark with rage. She could see him more clearly now that he was standing beside the red light. She could see the saliva coating his teeth and his claws gleaming.

He stepped towards her menacingly, and she prepared her legs. He took a few more and lashed out at her with his claws, which she was able to see coming. She bounded upwards and away from his strike. He swiped a few more times, heaving heavy breaths between each one. She could dodge them easily enough if she kept him where she could see him. She only needed another moment longer.

 

He roared and pounced at her, trying to grasp at her chest with his powerful paws. She jumped up and bounded off of his nose with all her strength, sending her straight up and towards the ceiling. She reached up and found a thin pipe that ran along the ceiling to cling to, dangling a good ways above the ground.

 

He snarled and jumped up, trying to reach her with his claws again, but each time they came just short. Hanging onto the pipe set her ribs off awfully. She raised her legs up and wrapped them around the pipe as well, trying to keep herself out of his reach. He charged his legs and reached up one more time.

 

Her shirt was untucked, and that was all it took. Just a few inches of flimsy fabric dangling from her back was all he needed to reach with one claw, and it yanked her from the ceiling. His powerful paw pulled her down towards the ground, where she collided with the ground hard and painfully. Judy felt her shoulder hurt like mad as well, though she had no time to dwell on it. She reeled around onto her back and looked up at the seething predator who now stood over her.

 

She backed away on her paws, her nose twitching like mad. There was not enough time to retreat when he was so close, but her feet tried anyway. Just as she got onto her feet to run, he lunged forward with his maw open and his teeth dripping in anticipation.

 

“Carrots!” Nick cried from her side. It was too dark to see him, but she felt his foot connect with her back as she was flung to one side. She rolled on the ground and looked up to find Nick with his leg in Pumar’s mouth.

 

Pumar bit down, and there was a sickening snap as Nick’s bone gave out. He yelped and tried in vain to swipe at Pumar’s face to get him off. The mountain lion responded by shaking his victim violently, earning more yelps and cries of anguish from the fox in his mouth.

 

“Nick!” she cried out in horror as Pumar tossed him like a wet rag up against the wall between the tracks. Pumar’s eyes focused on the limp fox before him, glowing with rage but dilated as he savored the taste of blood in his mouth. He was now down on all fours with not a hint of sanity in him. Completely savage.

 

Judy felt a rumble, but not from Pumar’s growl. Her paw was resting on a train track that vibrated lowly, growing in intensity by the second. She could hear the squealing of metal-on-metal approaching fast.

 

“Hey!” she called out to Pumar, whose eyes shifted from Nick to her. His tie dragged along the ground as he crept forward on his paws. The screeching got louder, but Pumar did not seem at all concerned by it. The only thing he focused on was Judy as his mouth began to salivate again.

 

“Run,” Nick said from the wall he lay against. “Carrots, run!”  The rumble shook the metal bars beneath her feet.

 

Pumar pounced, opening his maw wide and reaching forwards with his claws, ready to tear the bunny to shreds. Judy waited for the last possible moment before she leapt out of the way. His claws slammed down on the spot she was in not a moment earlier. She was now backed up against the wall beside the tracks, and Pumar growled in frustration.

 

Pumar’s face lit up for a moment as the A-train appeared from around the corner. The predator had no time to react. He kept his eyes angrily on Judy, not seeming to notice the oncoming train. He lunged forward with one more growl, and Judy turned her head away. The train blared its horn, but it was too late.

 

His claw was a few inches away from her face before it was replaced by the rush of wind and steel as the train zoomed by. Judy kept her eyes shut tight and her face turned as the train passed by in a wave of noise and wind. Just as the last car was passing her, the conductor slammed the brakes and the wheels locked up, spraying sparks in every direction. The train finally came to a stop, the last car poking out from the next tunnel slightly. She heard the sounds of startled passengers on board. Judy looked down and noticed a torn-up part of a necktie at her feet.

 

She sighed in relief, thankful to still have her neck. The relief was short-lived as she looked back up to where Nick was lying against the wall.

 

“Nick!” she cried as she leapt to his side. His eyes were wide and a little wet, but he was smiling in relief.

 

“Are you okay, Carrots?” he said weakly. She could smack him for asking such a stupid question. She looked down at his leg, which was bloodied and bent in an unnatural angle. His ear continued to bleed as well, but the bleeding was light enough that she was confident he would not bleed out. A smile was still on his face like everything was right as rain.

 

“You idiot,” she said, her eyes beginning to water. She fell to her knees and laid her head down on his chest, grasping at his shirt and matted fur. He bit down a hiss as the slight jostle hurt his leg terribly, but he wrapped a paw around Judy all the same, pulling her in closer.

 

“Nick . . .” she said weakly. She could smell him. His fur still felt the same. The sound of his breathing was blissfully familiar to her. He was real, and he was right there. “. . . Nick.”

 

“Judy,” he said her name sweetly. “You did it, Judy. You really did it.” He was happy, despite being in so much pain. She used the side of his torso to wipe a tear away from her cheek as she pressed her head in closer. “I knew you could.”

 

“Nick . . .” she repeated his name, as if he might disappear again if she did not. He held her close, laying his chin on top of her head. A moment later he lifted off and held her head up, looking at her with concerned, terrified eyes.

 

“Fangmeyer?” he asked.

 

“She’s gonna make it,” Judy said softly with a nod. A look of sweet relief washed over Nick’s face as he swallowed down a bitter sob of happiness for Fangmeyer. She smiled as his face contorted in all the ways he refused to let anyone else ever see.

 

“Judy I . . . I don’t even know where to start,” he said, holding her face with one paw.

 

Time would not be so kind to them. Before he could say any more, the sound of Officer McHorn blowing through the jammed doorway echoed through the tunnel. Judy looked and could faintly see flashlights emerging from around the corner.

 

“Carrots,” Nick said, and rifled one paw through his pocket. “I need you to do something for me.”

 

“What is it?”

 

“We both know what’s about to happen,” he said and pulled out a gleaming set of cuffs from his pocket. They were his own pair, and he held them out towards her. She held the cold steel in her paws for a moment, knowing full well what he meant. She knew what needed to be done, but now that she was in front of him, it burned her to do it. 

“Nick.”

 

“Please, Carrots. I want it to be you,” he said softly. He held up his wrists together in front of her. She reached out and held the fur on his cheek for a moment, savoring the way his warm frame felt in her paw.

 

“Nicholas Wilde,” she said softly and snapped the cuffs around his wrists. “You have the right to remain silent.”

 

A moment later the flashlights were upon them. Officer McHorn and Higgins knelt down on either side of them, calling for medical support when they saw Nick’s leg. More officers poured in and began instructing the passengers onboard the stopped subway train to follow a walk-path towards the nearest station. Chief Bogo himself was there as well, giving Nick a sorry shake of his head.

 

The medics showed up soon after with a stretcher. They delicately lifted Nick onto the stretcher and began to patch up the bleeding leg where they could. Among the medics was Jack Savage, dressed in his black suit as always. He looked Judy up and down with his paws crossed over his chest.

 

“Quite the mess you left for us back there, Hopps,” Agent Savage said. “Where is Pumar?” Nick took the liberty of answering his question.

 

“Oh, here and there,” Nick quipped before groaning in discomfort as the medics lifted him up on the stretcher. He met eyes with Agent Savage for a moment, giving the bunny a sly smile as the medics began walking and carried him back down the tunnel.

 

“He’ll be under ZBI watch from here,” Savage told her, nodding towards where Nick vanished.

 

“And what on earth makes you think I’ll let that happen?” Chief Bogo’s voice boomed from behind him.

 

“Chief Bogo,” Savage said in surprise. “We’ll keep him along with Agent Frost in a secu—”

 

“I’ve had about enough of your drivel, Agent Savage. Officer Wilde is ZPD, and we will be keeping him from here on out. If you don’t like that, you can tell the director to come down here from his perch and take him back himself. Am I making myself absolutely clear?” Bogo growled. It was satisfying to see Bogo’s menacing glare focused on another bunny for a change.

 

“Chief, please, you’re making a mistake,” Savage said, his voice breaking a little.

 

“The only mistake I’ve made is not believing in Officer Hopps when I should have. This is my crime scene, Savage.”

 

Agent Savage looked up at him in frustration. His fists bent for a moment and then relaxed. He looked over his shoulder towards Judy, who scowled back at him. He did not look angry at her; rather, he was oddly concerned. He took a moment to straighten out his tie and gave her a polite nod.

 

“Well done, Officer Hopps.” 

With that, he stepped away and headed down the tracks to survey whatever was left of Victor Pumar.

 

“How many did you bag back in the train car garage?” she asked Bogo.

 

“Four Dravec, one Dr. Whiskberg, and an arctic fox who has seen better days.” She sighed gratefully as that meant all perpetrators were accounted for. 

 

“We’ll need bomb squads for that car filled with the explosives,” Judy started. “Make sure that everyone’s got gas masks on when that happens. We should take any cell phones the Dravec have on them, in case we get any leads to who else they might be in contact with. Maybe I could sta—”

 

“Hopps,” Bogo pleaded, placing a paw on her shoulder. “I’m begging you. Right now, just take a minute, yeah? We’ve got this.”

 

Judy looked up at the large cape buffalo, who looked upon her with a hopeful-yet-concerned look on his face. Perhaps it was the aches in her shoulder and chest that began to really tug at her, or her absolute exhaustion from her fight with Pumar, but she started to feel heavy. There was far too much going on in her head that moment, and her body could not keep up.

 

“Yeah,” she said softly. “I could use a minute.”


	18. He Didn't Deserve It

She spent the first day mostly asleep. One of the EMTs on the scene recognized her and brought her back to Zootopia General in an ambulance. The doctor immediately confined her to the recovery room and forbade her from leaving until he could give her a thorough examination and some powerful pain medication. The meds knocked her right out.

 

When she awoke, the first thing she asked was to see Nick, but he had been taken to a specialist in a different hospital to get his leg looked at. Clawhauser came in to pick her up and take her home, but surprisingly he had few details for her. The news was positively buzzing with stories about a foiled terrorist plot and the perpetrators behind it, but they thankfully did not mention her or Nick at all yet.

 

The second day she was eager for information, but Bogo refused to see her. She was not even permitted off of medical leave yet despite the doctor only giving her pain meds and a stern talking-to. Instead of bringing her in, officers Delgato and Grizzoli showed up at her door to take her statement.

 

Normally she would write her own report, but considering she was not a uniformed police officer during the fighting, she had to give a witness testimony that other officers would file for her. She walked them through everything, sparing no details about how Nick turned on Pumar and risked his life to save hers and thousands more. How that testimony affected her own job remained to be seen.

 

Infuriatingly, she heard nothing for the rest of that day! She called and texted and tried all of her sources to try and learn anything about Nick or the status of the case, but everyone she tried was just as much in the dark as she was. She sat at home, flipping through news channels, hoping for a miracle that they would have more information than she did.

 

She could do nothing but stare, thoughts spinning with the events from the fight in the tunnels. Nick did so much for her in the span of three minutes that it almost made her forget why she was on pain medication in the first place. Almost, but not completely. He still shot her, and now that she knew what his ultimate goal was, it still did not explain that. 

 

Having the time to slow down and think about the future for a moment, she wondered if she could ever really trust Nick again as completely as she used to. After this, every few seconds he was away would have her wondering what he was doing, where he was going, and what he was hiding from her. Could she really love someone she needed to look over her shoulder for?

 

The third day was when she finally got the call. It was early, just shy of sun-up, when her cell phone lit up and buzzed from her bedside table. She rubbed her eyes and drearily scooped it up with her head still on the table.

 

“Hello?” she mumbled, the drugs doing their job to keep her sleepy.

 

“Hopps!” Clawhauser said frantically. She was wide awake at the sound of his voice.

 

“Benji! Is there any news?”

 

“Chief wants you in the station pronto; he didn’t say anything else.”

 

“I’m on my way,” she said and hung up. Her head spun a little as she got to her feet. The drugs were working wonders for the pain in her chest, but they also made her a little woozy. Her eyes were still a little blurry from sleep that she did not see the news on the TV before she left.

 

She caught the train and made her way into the precinct, which was surprisingly busy. Chief Bogo had called code black on Precinct 1 to catch Pumar, but now that he was gone and the terrorists rounded up she expected the chief to call the emergency protocols off. However, it made her feel a little more cheerful to see Clawhauser’s desk full of donuts again as she watched him hand out Flake’s first batch of the day out to all the weary officers.

 

“Hopps!” he said with a chirp, smiling.

 

“Hey, Clawhauser. The chief upstairs?”

 

“Yeah, but you’ll want to wait a minute. Agent Savage just went in there, and the chief was not happy with him.”

 

“Oh,” Judy said in surprise. She looked upwards to Bogo’s office and wondered what was so important to call her into the office for. “Glad someone gets to yell at Savage. I’m just sorry it’s not me.”

 

“I hear that,” Clawhauser said with a smirk. “Got somethin’ else that might cheer you up, though.”

 

“I don’t want a donut, but thanks anyway,” she waved him off.

 

“I wasn’t talking about donuts,” Clawhauser said, his eyes gazing upwards to something behind her.

 

“You should have one, Judy. The first batch is always the best,” Officer Pennington said behind her.

 

“Francine!” Judy practically jumped out of her skin. She turned to find her elephant friend smiling down at her with her large forehooves on her hips. She was clad in her uniform with her badge proudly on her chest. “You’re here! And you’re in uniform! Does this mean you’re back on the force?”

 

“Technically I was never even off of it, just admin leave. I used it as a good excuse to spend more time with the kids.” Francine looked as chipper and eager to help as ever.

 

“I thought it would be a month before internal affairs was done with you,” Judy wondered aloud.

 

“Hmm? Oh, no, the internal affairs team dropped the investigation completely.”

 

“What? Even after you gave me the . . . you know,” Judy murmured, referring to the classified profile on Agent Frost.

 

“The what now?” Francine asked. Judy caught on to her secrecy and decided not to press further.

 

“Did they tell you why they dropped the investigation?” Judy said, astonished.

 

“Because of . . . have you not read the news this morning yet?” Francine asked her.

 

Judy could practically throttle Clawhauser for not mentioning the news sooner. She whipped out her phone and pulled up ZNN as fast as she could and began scrolling. Skipping through weather and politics, she found an article that caught her eye from the title alone.

> **_ZBI Director Details Undercover Operations in Foiled Terrorist Plot_ **
> 
>  
> 
> _ ZBI Director J. Edgar Hoofer unveiled to ZNN in an exclusive interview that the recent operation that stopped four Dravec members from bombing downtown Zootopia was the result of a coordinated undercover effort between both the ZBI and ZPD. Previous attempts to catch the wanted arms smuggler known as Victor Pumar led them to discover a terrorist plot that aimed to use Nighthowler toxin to cause chaos and panic throughout the city. _
> 
>  
> 
> _ “At first Pumar was our only goal, but when we learned about the Dravec targeting the city, we needed to catch everyone involved or risk them returning with different weapons. We placed key operatives deep behind enemy lines to lure out the terrorists before moving in and catching them all in the same place.” _
> 
>  
> 
> _ When asked about the reports of confusion amongst the ranks of the ZPD, the director had this to say: _
> 
>  
> 
> _ “While a select few officers were aware of the full situation, we kept most ZPD officers in the dark to make sure our undercover operative’s covers were not blown.” _
> 
>  
> 
> _ ZBI Director Hoofer also confirmed that the recent high-speed chase in downtown, as well as the fire in the Rainforest District earlier this week, were both part of the investigation, claiming that they were caused by a lapse in judgment by the ZBI. _
> 
>  
> 
> _ “Had we shared more with the ZPD, those events might have been avoided. In the end, however, they were necessary to win over Pumar’s confidence and allow us to arrest the members of the Dravec along with his co-conspirator, Dr. Terrence Whiskberg.” _
> 
>  
> 
> _ Before ending the interview, Director Hoofer had this to add: _
> 
>  
> 
> _ “I’d also like to take a moment to thank Chief Bogo for working so closely with my team in the investigation and for the valiant efforts of officers Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde, both of whom were injured during the arrests. We wish them both a speedy recovery.” _
> 
>  
> 
> _ Victor Pumar, who was killed during the ZBI arrest operation, planned to use a toxin known as Nighthowler poison, a dangerous chemical that this city is all too familiar with. . . . _

Judy couldn’t read the rest. Her mind was spinning with so many questions that she nearly dropped her phone. Clawhauser and Francine both studied her expression closely as she read through the article.

 

“Bogo knew?” Judy wondered aloud.

 

“I don’t buy that for a second,” Francine said. “If Bogo knew, he would never have let any single officer get in harms way, especially not Fangmeyer.”

 

“I’ve never seen the ZBI de-classify an investigation so quickly. They even mentioned you and Wilde by name, which they’ve never done before,” Clawhauser remarked. 

 

“This doesn’t make any sense,” Judy said, furrowing her brow at her phone. “It says that the arrest was a ZBI operation, but me, Nick and Skye were the only ones there before backup arrived. None of us were officers or agents, we just winged it!”

 

“Shhhh, keep your voice down,” Clawhauser said, looking around to see if anyone was eavesdropping. “This is probably what the chief wants to talk to you about.”

 

As if on cue, a sound of enraged screaming came from the third floor where Bogo’s office was. The hollering was followed by a loud crash and the sound of glass breaking. Judy’s ears shot straight up and all the officers on the ground floor halted, looking up towards the chief’s office with worry.

 

Another moment later, the door opened and while she could not see who exited the office, she could see the tops of two ears with black tips walk along the railing and towards the staircase. Everyone else stayed frozen as Jack Savage made his way into the lobby, his nose twitching like mad. Clawhauser stifled a giggle.

 

“Priceless,” Benjamin said quietly to Judy as they looked at the shaken ZBI agent. He made his way with spacey eyes before they landed on Judy.

 

“Officer Hopps,” he said, calming his nerves down at the sight of her. “Your uh . . . your chief would like a word.”

 

“He didn’t sound too happy up there,” Judy said.

 

“No, he was not,” Savage said very matter-of-factly. He huffed a sigh of relief and ran a paw over the back of his neck. His face was full of all sorts of expressions now, and it was strange to her beyond belief. He was clearly nervous after his chat with Bogo, but he was also strangely at ease as well. Whatever mask he normally wore was not on his face anymore.

 

“Do you like coffee?” he asked her flatly.

 

“Excuse me?”

 

“Coffee. I love coffee, and we should get some.”

 

“I uhm . . . I hardly think that’s approp—”

 

“I get mine every morning at the coffee shop by the park out front,” he said and gestured towards the doors that led to Savanna Central Park. He moved quickly, leaping up in one powerful bound up onto Clawhauser’s desk and finding a small pencil. Clawhauser looked at him with his paw over his mouth and eyes wide in shock. He pulled out a business card from his back pocket and jotted something down.

 

“Here,” he said and hopped down from the desk, handing Judy the card. “Call me at that number sometime and we’ll do coffee.”

 

Judy was too stunned to respond before the card was in her paw. Agent Savage made his way awkwardly by the other officers on the floor and towards the exit.

 

“What. The. Yuck,” Clawhauser said in a disgusted whisper.

 

“Mmm,” Francine agreed. “That was all kinds of weird.”

 

“What do you think that was all about?” Judy pondered, looking down at the card in her paw. The card had Agent Savage’s name, email, and number on it. Beneath it, he scribbled another number in hasty handwriting. It had an odd area code, with just two numbers instead of three. She could not make heads or tails of what had come over the rabbit, but she knew Jack Savage was not normally prone to spur-of-the-moment date propositions.

 

She looked back up, watching him exit the building. Instead of simply walking out, he stopped at the door, looking back at Judy for a moment, pulling the door open and holding it open politely for whoever was entering. She was so perplexed by Savage’s actions that it took her a moment to realize who was wheeled through the door.

 

Judy gasped, actually dropping her phone this time and choked back a happy sob as a familiar tiger was pushed into the precinct lobby by her husband, both wearing loving smiles.

 

“Fangmeyer,” Judy whispered and laughed a little. She next heard the precinct loudspeakers come alive as Clawhauser picked up his microphone.

 

“Attention all staff, attention all staff: Officer Fangmeyer is in the building,” he said, his voice cascading down the hallways of the police station. Kanya Fangmeyer looked at him with a scowl at the maneuver, but he just smiled at her and began clapping his paws together. Francine joined in soon after, laughing softly as her massive hooves came together. Judy could not help her happiness from bubbling over her cheek and wiped it away before clapping as well.

 

More officers began to pour into the lobby from all directions. A pair of wolves practically pushed each other out of the way to get to the lobby first. Delgato was there in a heartbeat and placed a paw on his chest before he began applauding as well. The massive hall began to fill with the sound of applause, long cheers accompanying it. That same pair of wolves howled in delight. Chief Bogo leaned against the railing and calmly clapped along with the rest of his loyal officers.  

 

Fangmeyer was blushing like mad and placed a paw on her face to hide her sheepish smile. Her husband placed a gentle paw on her shoulder, encouraging her not to be bashful. She wore a simple t-shirt and shorts, her fur still matted and disheveled. She certainly did not look like her usual proud self, but she was alive and back in the precinct, so Judy would take her victories as they came.

 

Eventually the clapping died down and the lobby that was now packed with officers both on and off duty quietly awaited for Fangmeyer to say something. She ushered her husband closer, who dutifully leaned down and listened to her whisper something in his ear. He looked nervously back at her for a moment, as if apprehensive to do what she asked.

 

“Honey,” she said softly, her voice a little broken.

 

“Alright,” he agreed. He stood up tall and placed his paw to his mouth and called out to the officers present. “She says thank you, and to get back to work, you lazy pups!”

 

That got a round of laughter from everyone present, including Judy. It felt odd but she was happy to have a wheelchair-bound teammate as something to celebrate. She quickly made her way by her side and shook her paw. Fangmeyer’s grip was weak, but it was there.

 

“How are you feeling?” Judy asked softly.

 

“Doctor says I shouldn’t raise my voice, nor do I have any desire to. But see this?” Fangmeyer said and pointed down towards her toes, which lightly moved up and down on the footrests. 

“That means I get to use my legs again, so I’m doing just fine.”

 

“Oh,” Judy sighed and placed a paw on her heart. “I can’t believe you’re here. Fangmeyer . . . I’m . . . I’m so sorry for everything that happened.” Judy was proving quite the emotional bunny that morning.

 

“Hopps, don’t you think on it. He got the drop on me, and you did everything you could to warn me.”

 

“He was after me,” Judy confessed. “If I hadn’t let you go on your own . . .”

 

“Then he could have shot us both, and right now he’d still be at large. Nice work, by the way. I heard you ran him over with a train.”

 

That made Judy frown. She never had to kill anyone in the line of duty before, and while his own savagery kept him from seeing the train coming, she knew full well what would happen. Still, if she had to make the same decision again, she would have done the same every time, so she made peace with it.

 

“Hey, Hopps,” she said and gently grazed her shoulder with her large paw. “You did well. Everyone in this city owes you and Wilde, so thank you for keeping my boys safe when I could not.”

 

“Not that we’re not thrilled to see you,” Francine cut in, “but what brings you here? I figured you’d be in physical therapy until the holidays at least.”

 

“That’s definitely on the docket,” Fangmeyer said with a nod. “But I came here to see Wilde. Where is he, anyway?”

 

“Nick?” Judy asked in confusion. “Why do you want to see him?”

 

“I wanted to thank him as well, in person. And, to be honest, after that crazy foxhunt I’m looking forward to busting his chops.”

 

“What makes you think he was here?” Judy asked.

 

“Well,” Fangmeyer began, “the specialist who’s overseeing my physical therapy is the same predator working on Wilde’s leg. He said that a few mammals in suits came by and undid his cuffs keeping him on the hospital gurney. He figured that the charges were dropped, and he checked out of the hospital late last night on crutches.”

 

“Mammals in suits? The ZBI let him go?”

 

“That’s what the doc told me,” Fangmeyer said. “After reading the news, I figured he’d be here getting yelled at by Bogo, but since you’re here alone I can tell I was wrong. Have you not heard anything yet?”

 

“No,” Judy said, her gaze wandering from Fangmeyer’s face up towards the third-floor balcony. Chief Bogo was still there, patiently watching them talk. He caught her gaze and pointed to his office with his thumb. She nodded and looked back at Fangmeyer.

 

“I know that look,” Fangmeyer said knowingly. “Go on. I’ll get some details and donuts from Clawhauser.”

 

Judy smiled and got a nod from Fangmeyer’s husband as well. She made her way up the stairs and found the chief’s door cracked open with him waiting inside.

 

“Chief? You wanted to . . . what happened in here?” she asked, looking at the state of his office. His desk was completely turned onto its side with a mess of folders and papers on the floor beside it. His coffee mug was in pieces on the floor as well, looking like it had been thrown to the ground like a football player celebrating a touchdown.

 

“He hit a nerve,” Bogo commented and stared blankly out the window through the blinds. Judy did not bother to sit down in the chair since Bogo was standing as well. “I’m sorry to ask you in so early in the morning.”

 

“Please, Chief, if you have any information about Nick, I need to hear it.”

 

Bogo placed his hoof on his brow and rubbed it tenderly. Short bursts of anger can be liberating for some, but they always seemed to cause an odd hangover for David Bogo.

 

“I assume you’ve read the ZNN report this morning?” he began.

 

“Yessir.”

 

“What do you make of it?” 

 

Judy pondered his question for a moment before deciding to start with what the article implied about him.

 

“I find it hard to believe you were in the know about the ZBI undercover operation the whole time.”

 

“That’s because I wasn’t,” he confessed. “Everything I knew I shared with you and the other officers, hoping it would catch Pumar faster, but it felt like the ZBI were always finding ways of slowing us down. I suppose it’s fitting that a rabbit named Savage could be so ruthless.”

 

“If I had to guess,” Judy suggested, “I’d say that the ZBI is covering their tracks and playing the whole thing off like it was their idea from the get-go. That way they can avoid being publicly embarrassed about a rogue operative bringing down Pumar and four members of the Dravec.”

 

“That would explain the director’s article,” Bogo mused. “But it would not explain what Agent Savage just told me.”

 

“What did he say?”

 

Bogo sat down in a chair, which looked a little undignified with his desk knocked over the way it was. But he was not standing on ceremony or even trying to look at all commanding for her. He was legitimately exhausted.

 

“They’ve dropped all charges against him. All accounts of aiding and abetting, conspiracy, reckless endangerment, they’re not pursuing anything. Savage said that it’s all true and that Wilde had been working for him the whole time.”

 

“What? No, Chief, I promise you, he’s just committing to the story the director gave him,” Judy argued. She could not help the slight twitch of relief that pulled at her cheeks, knowing Nick would not see jail time.

 

“Then why did he try his best just now to prove it? He called off the ZBI’s charges against Francine as well, and said outright that he was the one that gave you Agent Frost’s profile. He even demanded that I keep Wilde on the force, despite all he’s done, saying that he was acting under ZBI authority.”

 

Hearing this made Judy pause. The idea of Savage trying to cover his mistakes made sense to her, but sticking his neck out to defend her? To defend Nick? Surely the public would buy the story the director cooked up and they could leave the ZPD to deal with insubordination on its own terms. Getting heavily involved like this was strange, far stranger than Savage’s behavior a few minutes earlier.

 

“Chief,” Judy began. “Whether the ZBI asked him to go undercover or not, he still did what he did to save the lives of innocent civilians. I know I am biased, all things considered, but I believe he was never a traitor.”

 

“The ZBI’s story is starting to make sense to me, Hopps. If it is, then that means that the ZBI went behind my back and risked the lives of  _ my _ officers and the lives of citizens in secret,” Bogo said coldly. Suddenly, Bogo’s particularly powerful rage made sense to her, and a broken desk was the best Savage could have hoped for. “But then again, if it is true, then I don’t have to feel as conflicted in giving his badge back.”

 

“He was doing the right thing, so you shouldn’t . . . wait, give it back?” she asked, realizing what he meant. 

 

Bogo reached down onto the toppled desk. He yanked out one of the drawers completely and fiddled with its contents, pulling out two small golden badges emblazoned with blue stars.

 

“This one is yours,” he said, holding one up towards her. “The other is Wilde’s. He limped in this morning and turned it in.”

 

“What?!” Judy gasped. “Why would he turn it in? Did you fire him?”

 

“He never gave me the chance to speak,” Bogo explained. “He simply hobbled over, slapped it down on my desk, and left without so much as a snide remark. That was when I called you in, because I was hoping for an explanation from at least one of you.”

 

“Do you know where he went?” Judy asked.

 

“No, and from your asking, I get the idea that he hasn’t discussed anything with you.”

 

“No! He hasn’t! All I want are some answers, and he’s avoiding me!” she shouted in frustration.

 

“Stay calm, Hopps. He can’t run from you right now, so you’ll track him down eventually. On the bright side, you won’t have to worry about an internal affairs investigation anymore now that Savage has vouched for you. I still don’t understand it completely, but I won’t look that gift horse in the mouth.”

 

Bogo held out her badge towards her, offering it openly. She hesitated, looking up at her superior with timid eyes. He nodded towards her with a patient look on his face, knowing full well she would take it. She did, and she ran her thumb over the gleaming surface before placing it into her pocket.

 

“What about Nick’s badge?” she asked. Bogo held the other badge in his hand and paced for a moment. He looked down at the symbol of duty, looking at each word on the motto inscription; trust, integrity, and bravery.

 

“What he did was courageous and risky,” Bogo said lowly, not really addressing Judy but rather issuing a commandment. “He just might have been following the ZBI’s orders, but he does not work for the ZBI. He works for me, and he lied to me. He tricked my officers and used ZPD intel without authority. He went behind our backs when he should have come forward with the ZBI’s plan from the start.”

 

Judy did not interrupt his thoughts, knowing that the conclusion he would arrive at would be fair and justifiable either way. But she could not help but fear for her partner.

 

“But he saved lives and stopped not only this attack but potentially future ones as well, since we now have four living members of the Dravec in custody.”

 

Bogo stopped his pacing and looked at her seriously, contemplating his position.

 

“Chief?” Judy said softly.

 

“He’ll need to recover,” Bogo said. “That could take months. All the while, he’ll be scrutinized under an internal affairs investigation, though I expect him to pass since he has the ZBI on his side. I want him to complete the Police Academy test again, and he’ll need to pass with flying colors so that will take more time for him to prepare. After that, he’ll be on desk duty. Strictly the most mundane and monotonous paperwork jobs we have in the precinct, and he will not go near any fieldwork for many months more. He’ll keep his nose  _ spotless _ , playing absolutely everything by the book with a flawless record. Not as punishment but as proof. He needs to prove to me and the other officers that he’s worth having faith in again. He needs to win back our trust, and that will take time.”

 

Judy was leaning forward, grasping at her own badge with hope lit behind her eyes.

 

“Then, after slowly working his way back up to meter maid, one day a case might come across my desk that cannot be solved by anyone except for our fox and bunny unit. On that day, Hopps, you’ll have your partner back.”

 

“Chief . . .” she started.

 

“It’ll be the hardest he’s ever worked. This badge is too important for anything less. But while I will not simply give it back to him, I will grant him this chance to  _ earn  _ it back.”

 

“Chief, I  . . . thank you. But I need to know why,” Judy said sternly.

 

“Why?”

 

“Yes. Why are you giving him this chance to earn his badge back?”

 

Bogo looked down again at the small golden symbol in his hand. He reached up towards his chest and placed the badge in his breast pocket, just as he had done for hers a few days before.

 

“If he was unwilling to risk his badge to save lives, then he didn’t deserve it in the first place.”

 

Judy nodded, his words weighing heavy on her shoulders. It was true that she held tightly to her own badge, having worked so hard to earn it the first time. She felt lucky to be given a second chance after the Nighthowler case. Now here she was receiving a third chance and watching Nick be treated just as fairly. Looking back on Nick’s decision, she would have risked her own job to do the same, given the chance. The badge was meaningless if it was pinned on a mammal unwilling to live up to its charge. The thought led her to consider what else Nick had risked in the name of saving lives.

 

“Now,” Bogo said, returning to his normal stoic nature. “Since all of that will take perhaps as much as a year or longer, there’s the matter of pairing you with a new partner until Wilde proves himself again.”

 

“Sir, I think the doctors still have me on leave for the next ten days,” Judy reminded him.

 

“I know, I called. But I know you well enough to know that you’ll be back on day eleven ready to take on another Pumar case, and I’m not stupid enough to let you go around the city unsupervised.”

 

“Thanks, Chief,” Judy said with a hint of sarcasm.

 

“You’ve already had a volunteer. They should be waiting for you outside,” Bogo said. With a grunt he lifted the massive desk back onto its legs and began to pick up the various files scattered about the room.

 

“So, is that everything then?” Judy asked.

 

“Yes, that will be all, Lieutenant.”

 

“Thank yo— _ Lieutenant _ ?” Judy balked.

 

“Oh, don’t let it go to your head. Since Fangmeyer will be out of commission for the foreseeable future, I’m a little short-staffed of leadership and no one else would want the extra paperwork,” Bogo waved her off, as if a two-step promotion was as casual as treating a friend to coffee.

 

“I uh . . . I, I will, uhm . . . thank you, sir,” she said and turned to leave.

 

The door closed behind her and her mind was reeling. She was ecstatic to receive her promotion, but she was worried about what she heard about Nick. From what the chief said, it sounded like he was in a bad place. She was grateful that he’d be given another chance at being a police officer, but what confused her the most was what Savage had done on their behalf. She shook her head, as if to calm the waters in her mind as she looked around for whoever volunteered to be her new partner. She recognized him immediately.

 

“Wolford,” she said with a smile. He was standing by the door, looking down at her with his tail as stiff as a board and his eyes darting between her and the floor. The sad expression on his face could melt the coldest of hearts.

 

“Hiya, Hopps. Chief told me you’d be brought back on the force if it was the death of him, so I’m, uh . . . I’m glad.”

 

“Me too,” she said patiently.

 

“How are you feeling? You still hurt?” he asked her genuinely.

 

“I need bed rest for about a week or so and some powerful pain meds for my ribs and shoulder, but otherwise I’ll be just fine.”

 

“Good . . .” his eyes met hers and a frown grew on his face. “Hopps, I’m so sorry I wasn’t there. I shouldn’t have left you like that and I hate that I let you go into that hellhole alone. I will understand completely if you would rather have someone else as your partner, but I just wanted to say that I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you when you needed me.”

 

“No, Maxwell. You did exactly what you should have,” Judy consoled him. “Given everything that happened, I don’t blame you for a moment for thinking the worst of Nick, nor do I blame you for leaving the team. You did what you thought you had to because you were worried about me, and I can’t be angry about that, can I?”

 

Wolford gave a sad smile. “But you were right, Hopps. You were right all along, about Wilde, about the bombs, about everything. I may not know what to think about Wilde, but I know I’ll never doubt you again for as long as I live.”

 

“Doubt me, Wolford,” Judy demanded. “It might just save my life one day, and I don’t want a blind partner.” The last word made his eyebrows jump and his tail give the slightest hopeful wag.

 

“So you want to be partners until Wilde is back?”

 

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” she reassured him and offered a paw. He smiled at her and took her paw in his own and gently shook it. Fire lit behind Wolford’s eyes again, and the familiarity of it made Judy eager to return to work.

 

“By the way, did you see the look on Savage’s face as he left Bogo’s office earlier?” he said with a cheeky grin. They began walking together back towards the stairs and lobby.

 

“He looked as pale as the dead. I think Bogo scared a few years of his lifespan from his soul,” Judy mused.

 

“I saw the whole thing from up here. I can’t believe I didn’t get a picture of his face! I would have it as my phone background for the next year. By the way, what did he give you before he left?”

 

“You’re not going to believe this, but he asked me to coffee.”

 

“What! No way,” Wolford gasped. “The balls on that guy.”

 

“Yeah, gave me his card and wrote his number down and everything.”

 

“Wait, why would he write down his number if his number is printed on the card?” Wolford asked with a crooked eyebrow.

 

“I’m not sure. The number he wrote is weird, too,” she mentioned and fished the card out of her pocket. Wolford peered over her shoulder and looked over Savage’s hasty scribbles.

 

“That’s not a phone number,” he said. “Too many digits.”

 

“Maybe it was an international number. See how the area code is two digits to start with?” she said.

 

“Still too many digits,” Wolford said. “The last four look like a date, actually.”

 

Judy furrowed her brow and looked at the numbers again. Wolford was right, the last four digits actually did match with that same month and year. Looking closer, she also noticed the other numbers matched with a day that was Wednesday of that same week. All of which could have been coincidence, but it caught Judy’s attention.

 

Judy stopped and looked over the rest of the numbers. They were each written in pairs of two. The last six could be a date. The six digits before that looked more random at first, but then Judy noticed none of the pairs went over 59.

 

“Timestamp,” Judy murmured and looked over all the numbers again. If the last digits were a date, then the timestamp on that same date marked around 3am. The only numbers left to account for were the first two. She mistook them for an area code before, but now that she was seeing the numbers for what they were, they felt familiar. During the case, she spent many hours looking at similar numbers as she scanned traffic cameras.

 

“14,” Judy read aloud. “Camera 14.”

 

“You think he’s telling you to look for something in the traffic cameras?” Wolford asked.

 

“The traffic cameras in the system start at number 50. Cameras 1 through 49 are the precinct security cameras,” Judy explained.

 

They looked at each other for a moment before they began sprinting to Judy’s desk. She 

rounded the corners like she was chasing down Weaselton, and Wolford had a hard time keeping up. She slid into her chair and immediately fired up her computer’s camera network. 

 

Sure enough, camera 14 was a hallway camera that looked right outside the same conference room that the ZBI used as a temporary HQ. The current footage showed a few officers idly walking by the conference.

 

“Ok, so Wednesday night, 2:47am . . . there we go,” she said and cued up the footage.

 

At first there was nothing. The windows beside the hallway were pitch dark. There was no movement of any officers so late at night. The door to the conference room was wide open. 

 

Suddenly, Francine came into view from down the hallway. She trudged by the door with a passing glance before stopping and peering back inside curiously.

 

“This must be when she got that file for me,” Judy realized. She watched as Francine eyed both directions down the hall nervously before darting into the room. She disappeared for a moment, where presumably she was accessing the ZBI’s database for Agent Frost. It was not too much longer that Agent Savage appeared from off screen. He leaned up against the doorframe and shook his head. He and Francine spoke for a moment, and Judy wished she could hear what they were saying.

 

“She was placed on admin leave that same morning,” Wolford said as he watched along with her. Soon the other ZBI agents fell into the room and escorted her from the room. Agent Maple led her down the hall with her head hung low. The other agents followed closely, barking angrily at her and at one another.

 

“This can’t be right,” Judy said. “Francine hasn’t given the file to me yet.”

 

That was when she realized that one agent stayed behind in the conference room. Jack Savage appeared from the doorway and confidently strode down the hall. He had a beige folder in one paw.

 

“Follow him,” Wolford said. Judy was just a little too stunned to realize he was out of frame. She jumped at the keyboard and clicked forward by three cameras, having an idea of where he was headed, though she felt crazy for thinking it. Camera 22 looked over the cubicles at officer’s desks. In the bottom corner, Judy was sleeping soundly with her head against her desk. She had fallen asleep looking at traffic cameras, trying to see where Nick had disappeared to, and Francine had blanketed her with her heavy Tundra coat.

 

“No,” Judy muttered as Savage came into the frame. “This . . . this isn’t . . .”

 

He took a small sticky note from her desk and jotted something down on the folder, gently placing the folder beside Judy’s head on her desk. He turned to the camera, looked right at it for a moment, and then continued down the hallway towards the exit.

 

“That smug bastard,” Wolford said in astonishment.

 

“Why would he give me . . .” Judy wondered. Wolford commandeered the keyboard from her and slid her chair over a bit so he had better access. He furiously typed in a new time stamp at the same camera.

 

“Remember when we found movement in the Rainforest District canopy?” Wolford said as he scrolled forward. “I had stepped out for lunch and the camera was different by the time I got back. I figured I switched to it without realizing . . .”

 

The screen showed Wolford at the same desk, staring at the computer screen with tired eyes. He yawned and stretched for a moment, before rising from the chair and making his way down the hallway. Maxwell fast-forwarded lightly as a few minutes went by, both of them glued to the screen. After another moment, they spotted movement and watched as Jack Savage came on the screen again.

 

“I don’t believe it,” Wolford whispered. Whether he believed it or not, Judy watched as Savage quickly jumped onto Wolford’s chair and typed in a timestamp and camera number. He was gone as quickly as he came, and not a soul was the wiser.

 

“He was telling the truth,” Judy realized. Earlier, she assumed that Savage was pretending that the ZBI were behind Nick’s covert operations just to save face, but this proved it completely. Everything she’d been through, from Nick’s disappearance to the shootout in the tunnels, it was all Savage.

 

“I need to go,” Judy said and rose from her seat. She threw on her light coat that hung from her desk and walked with determination towards the exit.

 

“Where are you going?” Wolford asked from behind her.

 

“To get some coffee.”


	19. Coffee

Jack Savage was waiting for her in Savanna Central Park. There was a bench nestled under the banyan tree lining one of the more secluded walking trails. The watering hole nearby made it easy for her to spot him from across the park. He was thoughtfully gazing out onto the water with a calm expression on his face, and he had a steaming cup of coffee in his paws. His ear twitched as she approached, but he did not turn his head to greet her. Instead, he smiled and looked down at his watch.

“Sixteen minutes,” he counted. “Cripes, Judy, you work fast. My coffee isn’t even cool yet.”

At first she did not say anything. She regarded him with a quiet curiosity as he continued to stare out at the water. Normally she would be repulsed to be in the same space as the rabbit, but something about his posture and expression were much different now. He was less cold and calculating and more relaxed. Perhaps he was able to get some sleep after the case.

“I had help,” she answered. “Wolford saw the date in the number you wrote down. Not really much of a code, now that I see it.”

“Hmm,” he smirked. “No, I guess not. I suppose it’s fitting, though; your team was the biggest thorn in my side during the investigation.”

“How do you mean? What was the investigation really about anyway? Why was Nick even involved? And why wasn’t I told anything?” she asked, getting louder as her questions began to flow from her mouth like a dam had collapsed. Savage held up his arm and urged her to remain calm.

“Easy, easy. Have a seat, Judy. We’ll probably be chatting for awhile,” he suggested and patted the seat on the bench beside him. While she did not feel particularly at ease sitting so close to him at the moment, it would certainly arouse wandering eyes and ears if she remained standing and continued shouting at him.

“It was all you,” she said as she sat down beside him. “Everything, even from the start. This was all your doing.”

“I . . . have the majority share of the blame here, yes,” he confessed.

“Savage, you need to be straight with me right now or I’ll consider making a statement to the press about how Bogo wasn’t actually in the know about this investigation at all and ho--”

“Okay, Hopps, calm down. I’ll tell you everything you want to know. I promise,” he said. “You have until I finish my coffee to ask me any questions you would like answers to. After that, this conversation never happened and we’ll probably never see each other again, which I’m sure you look forward to.”

“Savage . . . ” she started, but then decided to get to her burning questions when she watched him take his first swig of coffee. “I’m still having a hard time believing this. When this investigation started, you tried your best to convince me that Nick was a traitor. You even invited me to help on your team. If this was all the ZBI’s doing, then why try to convince me Nick was rogue?”

“Well, first off, this was not the ZBI’s doing,” Jack clarified.

“Come again, _Agent_ Savage?” she asked pointedly.

“The ZBI as an organization had nothing to do with my plan. My teammates, the director, they were all just as much in the dark as you were.”

“So . . . you planned an undercover op without ZBI approval? Why?” 

Jack leaned back in his seat and took another sip of his coffee. He looked as relaxed as she’d ever seen him.

“Director Hoofer likes attention far too much to be good at his job. He likes to brag about the bad guys we nab and the ‘excellent leadership’ work he does. Operation Catscratch was his effort of simply getting another war story for his wine tastings,” Jack explained. He swirled the cup in his paws gently as he spoke. “The job was simple: Go in, catch Pumar, and let him rot in prison for the rest of his life.

“However, Skye and I learned he had buyers who were targeting the city, and if we grabbed him then, those buyers would simply find another way to cause death and destruction here. I told this to the director, but he didn’t care. He wanted Pumar because he was high profile, so he ordered the raid in the Rainforest District.”

Judy blinked. “So Pumar was never even your target? You were only interested in his buyers?”

“We needed all of them, Hopps. The buyers, the sellers, and the suppliers, and thanks to you and Wilde, we have them. We didn’t stop just one attack, and thanks to the intel we’ll get from the captured Dravec members, we can stop even more before they even get plotted in the first place. The director was only interested in slowing them down.”

“So you just decided to hell with the ZBI and started your own op behind their back?”

“Not exactly . . .” Jack grimaced. “Pumar caught Skye sneaking around during the op, but she persuaded him to let her join him. She offered him help getting his clients in and out of the city, and to prove herself to him she faked her death. I was unaware that she found an opening like that, so in the beginning, I thought I had lost her.”

“I saw,” Judy said. This made Jack raise an eyebrow at her skeptically. “A local kid caught your reaction on video. I saw everything.”

“Then you can probably guess I was not too happy about the maneuver when Skye found me again later,” he said with a scoff. “She told me about the opening she saw, so I agreed it was the right thing to do. From there, we hatched a plan. She’d tail Pumar, letting him get in and out of the city at will, and find out more about his buyers. Once she had a meeting scheduled between them, we could move in and grab all of them at once.”

“Let me guess, that plan fell through,” Judy said with a frown. Jack nodded solemnly.

“Yeah. Pumar demanded to have a crooked cop on his side with access to the cameras. Otherwise, he refused to have his buyers meet in Zootopia. We almost ended the op right then, but then Skye remembered an old friend of hers in the city.”

“Nick,” she finished the thought for him. He nodded and pointed a finger at her affirmingly. He took another sip of his coffee and wiped his mouth with the back of his paw.

“She spent her early years here in Zootopia learning how to bribe and swindle alongside Wilde. Her family moved her to Zoo York while she was still young in an effort to clean up her act, so Skye and Nick haven’t seen each other for a long time. When I asked him to help us out, I couldn’t convince him to leave everything behind. But Skye got through to him. She was able to convince Pumar that Nick was her secret lover and that he was trustworthy. Also they, uh . . . they had to play the part convincingly.”

“I know,” Judy said, remembering the time when she witnessed the two of them kissing through the window of their Rainforest District hideout. “You were involved with Skye, and you were okay with that?”

“I am okay with whatever it takes to get the bad guys,” Jack clarified.

“Clearly,” Judy scoffed. “So you brought in Nick to get the buyers out in the open. . .  What on earth was your plan from there? You knew the ZBI would move in guns a-blazing since this was all AWOL. How were you going to catch them without killing them both?”

“That,” he said and sipped again, “is where you came in.”

“Me?”

“Yes. Wilde insisted that if you could find them before the ZBI could, then not a single bullet would need to fly. I was not just skeptical, I was outright dismissive. But you should have heard him talk about you, like you were some kind of superhero. He was absolutely sure that you would catch them first, and that no one would die.”

Judy shook her head and scowled at him. She was getting angry again, feeling as though she could smack the coffee right out of his paw. “If your plan was to use me to catch them, then why did you try to convince me he was a traitor?!”

“Hmmm,” Jack ruminated on her question. “Call it testing the waters, if you’d like. I needed to see for myself that no matter how bad this would look for Wilde, you’d still have faith in him. Even if all the logic is telling you the opposite, you needed to be 100% sure that Nick was still on your side. It was also a good a time as any to get you angry with me,” he added.

“You wanted me angry with you?”

“You needed to catch them first, so I did what I could to motivate you along the way. Skye likes to say that I can be infuriating when I want to be, so I just did what came naturally.”

Judy remembered all the instances where it felt like Savage was going out of his way to prod her. He jested at her expense after the motorcycle chase and drew fox ears on his practice target. It worked because all the while she _was_ furious with him, and that was no small part helpful at pushing her further to catch Nick before he could. Judy placed her paw on her forehead and ran it over her ears thoughtfully.

“Why wasn’t I ever told? I would have played along, Savage. I would have kept this under wraps until we caught them. Why didn’t Nick tell me?”

“It was actually Nick who insisted on keeping you out of the loop,” Jack said calmly.

“What? Why did he--”

“Because there was a very real chance that this could have all gone tails up. We took a _lot_ of risks with this op, and if the worst happened, Nick and Skye would likely see life sentences if not the death penalty. I would be serving life as well for being complicit. If there was any evidence that you were colluding with him, then you’d be on the block too. Wilde wanted to make sure that no matter what happened, you would never see a day behind bars.”

Judy thought back to the clues that he left her. Each one was cryptic, nigh uncatchable for anyone but her, and none of them would hold up in court as collusion. Nick was trying to make sure she was safe from prosecution by leaving only the faintest hints. While it might have worked, it made her want to smack him.

“Then why not just a simple, ‘hey, honey, I’m going to go hustle a terrorist’ before all this got started? He never told me anything!” she barked.

“Do you remember being placed on a lie detector?” he asked her. She did remember, and while she heard stories of mammals being able to beat the detector in the past, she doubt she could fool it. She was never as comfortable with a lie as Nick was. She passed the detector with flying colors, which might have been the only reason the ZBI did not call internal affairs right there on the spot. Jack even oversaw the whole process, making sure it was all moving according to plan.  

Jack sipped his coffee.

“So all this time you’ve been watching me, hoping that I would get there first. I fought you every step of the way.”

“That you did,” Jack said with a smile, “And I’ll admit, occasionally my frustrations with you were not part of the act.”

“This plan could have gone wrong in so many ways,” Judy said with a shake of her head.

“It _did_ go wrong in a lot of ways. We didn’t know who the bombmaker was, and Marcus Spitzer is dead because of it. You were never supposed to get shot, and then of course there was Officer Fangmeyer,” Jack said and stopped for a moment. Judy could see the remorse on his face as he looked down at the water. “Skye left the bike in an obvious spot as a decoy to keep the fuzz off of them, or so Pumar was meant to believe. He decided a decoy was not enough and went out there looking for you.”

“But he got her instead,” Judy continued for him. He nodded sadly.

“Her medical expenses will be paid by the bureau as well as any compensation she’d normally receive on the job while she recovers. I’m sure that’s nice and all, but I feel like not getting shot at all would have been better.”

“Since this is coming from a hoodwinked ZBI, I can’t imagine they’re too thrilled about the expense,” Judy said.

“I made a deal with the director,” Jack said. “Like I said, things went wrong in a lot of ways. That wasn’t how I wanted to go about slowing you down.”

“Slowing me down?”

“Yes, Judy,” he said with a frustrated sigh and looked right at her. “That was the biggest failure of this whole operation. The craziest thing that none of us saw coming: you had a _team_ _._ Wilde had faith that you would come after him, but he never expected others to join in with you. Apparently he has more friends at the ZPD than he realized because as soon as your team got to work, you were moving way too fast for the plan to keep up.”

“Too fast . . . you mean I was going to catch Nick before he could get the buyers in town, right?”

“Exactly. My job was to make sure you did not move in until the time was right, but your team made that very difficult. As a result, I started to keep a closer eye on you. Which reminds me, may I see your cell phone for a moment, please?”

Judy cocked an eyebrow at him and stared back at his open palm skeptically. “Just for a moment,” he reassured her. She slowly pulled her cell phone out of her rear pocket and placed it in his paw. He ran his finger down one side and pinched his claws together. He yanked a small card about the size of a mouse’s toe from the side of her cell phone where the sim card was housed. Judy’s eyes went wide as she realized what he had done.

“You bugged my phone?” Judy asked, astonished.

“Don’t take it personally,” Jack said and placed the card between his large front teeth. Biting down hard, he split the card in half and spat out one half into the dirt. “I bug everyone’s phone.”

“How did you even . . .” Judy thought back to when he could have placed that bug. She had her phone in her butt pocket at all times, and this case was no different. Then she remembered bumping into Savage at the crime scene for the Spitz murder. He picked it up and gave it back to her so he must have placed the bug then. It was a move that could not have lasted more than a few seconds, but somehow he got it in without her noticing.

“When I learned who was on your team, I tried to split you guys up a little, so I asked for sniffers and sent them to the opposite side of town.”

“That’s why Wolford was called away. You were trying to separate us.”

“Yes, but it didn’t work. Skye got an urgent call from Nick, who was at the storage house hideout. He said that you tracked him down and were steps away from getting shot by Pumar and Terrence.”

“At the storage building,” Judy remembered. “Nick said he called in a favor to Skye to get us off his back.”

“He was really just trying to keep you alive, so Skye made a ‘slip-up’,” he said, making quotes in the air with his fingers, “and got recognized by Conny downtown, hence the high-speed chase. After that, slowing your team down was not going to cut it, so I decided to thin the herd.”

“Thin the herd . . . so that’s why Francine was placed on administrative leave,” Judy said accusingly.

“It wasn’t kind, but it worked. When I saw her sneak into the office and access the computer, I had to take the opportunity.”

“But you still gave me the file,” said Judy. “Why did you give me Skye’s profile?”

“Two reasons,” Jack said, counting off on his fingers. “One: I considered it a consolation prize after losing a teammate. Two: after the chase, I knew it was only a matter of time before Bogo went public with the investigation, something I knew you’d want to stop, so I gave you the leverage to keep that from happening.”

“So you knew I would give the file to Bogo and force your hand?”

“Well, to be honest, I figured you’d blackmail me into doing it, but I underestimated your character. You simply took the hit and turned in your badge instead. That made things much harder since you could not catch them all at once and hope to win on your own as a civilian.”

“This is all still hard to believe, Savage. How did you communicate with them? The ZBI would see any direct communication as a red flag and treat you like a double agent.”

“Skye, a bit like Nick, would leave me the occasional breadcrumb she knew only I would pick up. I gave Wilde a secure number he could call, only if their cover was blown.”

“How did you get him your number without your team catching on?”

“Well, as part of my look-busy strategy, I went to Wilde’s mother’s place to go through the routine of asking family members questions. And get this, the idiot was _there!_ The one place my agents would look after your apartment was his mother’s place and that dumdum had gone to try and get his mother to skip town. So I . . . I made sure he could not make that mistake again, and I may have destroyed his relationship with his mother in the process.”

“Nick said something about that,” Judy said and nodded along. “That his mother wouldn’t even look at him. That was you?”

“I left my card there for him with a little message that said, ‘if you’re blown’ on it by the phone number, in case the worst should happen and they need to be bailed out.”

Judy folded her arms across her chest and looked pensively out at the water. Everything Jack was saying was plausible, but it was also so far-fetched that she’d sooner believe that Pumar was in on the investigation as well. She saw for herself how Jack had helped her, but it still did not make any sense to her. It did explain why Nick was so cryptic and why he never said anything to anyone else at the ZPD about it. Since it wasn’t actually sanctioned by the ZBI, there was no earthly way Bogo would have green-lit the operation, so Nick had been willing to sacrifice his job and his freedom to catch them.

“Once you no longer had Francine or Fangmeyer, I figured you’d be too slow to catch them without another helpful nudge from me. But one morning, Agent Maple throws the door open and starts screaming about a T.U.S.K. raid underway in the Rainforest District. I was in shock, because I never in a million years expected that Bogo would green-light a raid like that for you. But yet again, you surprised me.”

“So my T.U.S.K. raid was too early,” Judy said. “I guess I understand how I caught everyone off guard, but you never made him pull the trigger. He did.”

“It’s funny,” Jack mused. “Wilde shooting you was actually what made this operation a success in the end. Pumar had a hard time trusting him up to that point and was reluctant to meet with his buyers until he was positive. After the raid? Not only did Pumar agree to bring them in, but he also let Nick pick the spot to make the exchange.”

“I doubt that’s what he was thinking about when he shot me.” Judy rubbed at her chest lightly, where the bone was still aching lightly.

“Would you like to hear what was going through his mind?” Jack asked her. She shot him a confused look.

“What do you mean, ‘hear’?” she asked him. Jack opened up his jacket pocket and pulled out his own cell phone. He took a minute to swipe to an audio file. He placed the phone between them on the bench and hit the play button, followed by the speakers. At first, all Judy heard was a dial tone, followed by another. Then, Jack’s voice came through the speakers, sounding very serious and slightly angry.

“Are you blown?” Jack’s voice demanded.

“Is Judy alive?” Nick’s voice demanded right back.

“Wilde, you’re not supposed to use this line unless---”

“Is. Judy. Alive?!” he shouted angrily. She could hear the panic in his voice. It was unsettling beyond compare to hear the mammal who was always so confident and cool-headed be so distraught.

“Yes, Wilde, she’s alive and at Zootopia General.”

She heard Nick choke, and the sound alone made her heart ache. She could practically see Nick holding the phone against his ear and keeping his other paw over his eyes. He took a shaky breath and bumbled about for a second before speaking again.

“Is . . . is she alright? Is she hurt?” Nick asked weakly.

“I don’t know, Wilde. Why don’t you take a bullet to the chest and nearly drown and we’ll see how you feel?”

“Listen here, you pin-striped little cretin!” he spat. “You had ONE job: keep Carrots from catching us until the buyers show up. This was never part of the plan! I shot her, Savage! She was the only mammal on earth who really trusted me and I filled her vest full of lead!” Nick was furious and heartbroken at the same time. Judy had never heard him get like this before, and it twisted her guts to hear him in such pain.

“She got a T.U.S.K. raid green-light from the chief. By the time I was alerted, she was already on her way to you,” Jack explained.

“She should not have even been there at all, let alone with an entire squad ready to drop us. When she caught us on the train, there was no time.”

“Couldn’t you have kicked her off the train instead?” Jack suggested.

“I’ve seen how fast Pumar is on the draw. I had maybe 10 milliseconds to do something before he emptied a clip in her head. If I tried to shove her, she would have dodged me. It was the only thing I could think of that gave her any hope . . .” Nick sounded mournful now.

“Keep your head on, Wilde. You can use this to get Pumar to—”

“I’ve done my part in this job, and I’ve kept Skye safe for you. What are you doing?! You’ve let Judy get to us twice now! Not to mention you thoroughly destroyed any hope of speaking with my mother ever again! Are you _trying_ to ruin everything for me?”

“If you’ve had enough, then dart him and call it in. Without the buyers, I can’t guarantee your freedom. You and Skye will be in a cell before the sun goes down, and the buyers will still be out there, but this will all be over.”

“Hughh . . .” Nick sighed, quieting himself a bit and reigning his temper back in as best he could. “No. I’ve given up way too much to give up now. We’re too close.”

“Does that mean you’ve gotten the buyers in the city?”

“Yeah. Pumar’s had them in the city under our nose for days now, but he just agreed to set up the exchange now.”

“Good. I’ll see about getting Judy back on the case as soon as possible. Make sure you have a backup plan in case she’s had enough.”

“She’ll never have enough,” Nick said with a sigh. “I’m counting on you, Savage. When all of this goes down, you’ll be the only one who can keep me and Skye from rotting in prison.”

Nick’s voice was cut off by another voice, which caught Judy by surprise. She leaned in closer to the phone to hear the new voice in the conversation. It was faint at first, but it quickly grew louder, and Judy’s eyes grew wide.

“Savage,” Judy’s own voice emitted from the phone. “I need to talk—”

“I promise you, _Mr. Director_ , that I’ll get it done,” Jack’s voice said pointedly.

Judy immediately recognized the conversation. She interrupted Jack’s phone call on the roof of the precinct a few days earlier, but she assumed it was with the ZBI director. He was actually talking to Nick that whole time! She leaned over towards Jack’s phone and got so close her nose was nearly rubbing against the screen.

“Wait, is that Judy?” Nick asked.

“Yessir,” Jack responded, his tone suddenly becoming very serious and formal.

“Thank god . . . okay, Savage, send her home. I left one more note for her at our apartment. When she finds it, she’ll either take a train home to Bunnyburrow, or she’ll find us and fill us all full of so many darts it’ll make an acupuncturist blush.”

“What if it’s the former?” Jack asked. Judy could remember the look on Jack’s face when he paced around on the roof while she waited with bated breath for him to finish his conversation. Back then, she was about to push him to classify the case to keep Bogo from condemning Nick to the press.

“Then Skye and I will do 20-to-life. It all depends on one thing,” Nick said.

“And what is that, sir?”

“Does she still believe in me?”

There was a moment of silence, and Judy could remember so clearly how Jack studied her face. Nick’s voice was still broken and scared, but she could tell he resigned himself to whatever fate awaited him. She could remember what Jack was going to say next, and it set her heart a little faster.

“. . . I believe so, sir.”

“That crazy bunny,” Nick said with a laugh. “Send her home, and for god’s sake, Savage, _keep her alive_ _._ ”

“Understood,” Jack said before the recording ended.

Judy looked up at Jack, who was observing her closely. That same look of curiosity was on his face, just as it always was. She realized now it wasn’t indifference she was seeing but rather a mask. He was keeping her from seeing his true intentions by keeping his face as stone cold as possible. He reached his paw forward and clicked on the recording file, deleting it from memory. He sipped his coffee and dug through his coat for a moment before pulling out a small piece of splintered metal from his pocket.

“Here,” he said, and held out the small metal slug towards her. She rolled it around in her paw for a moment, recognizing it as a crushed round from a small caliber pistol.

“Is this the round Nick fired?” she asked, remembering how Jack had dug it out of her vest after pulling her from the river.

“As of now, that is the only piece of evidence that could guarantee Nick’s arrest. Even if other members of the ZPD knew about it, they’d need hard evidence to convict him. If you wanted, you could send him away forever.”

“Why give it to me?”

“Because it should be your decision, not theirs. I’m sorry it has taken me so long to clear his name,” Jack said softly. “I could have done it sooner if Chief Bogo did not insist on keeping Wilde under ZPD custody.”

“You said you made a deal with the director. What do you mean?” Judy asked.

“You blowing the case wide open put the director in a sticky position. He could press charges against Wilde and Skye, but then he would have to admit that the entire ZBI was taken for fools. Having criminals doing your job better than you is embarrassing, so I offered him an out. Drop the charges and I’d wipe all evidence that the ZBI was in the dark. That way, no internal affairs investigation would ever be able to expose his incompetence. I’ve spent the last few days clearing all evidence and running my team through the story. There are only a few pieces left to take care of.”

“That’s why you met with the chief. He had to agree to keep it under wraps as well,” Judy concluded, and Jack nodded in return.

“He was not pleased about me playing around with his officers, but thankfully he never condemned Wilde, so I think he has a shot at keeping his job.”

“He will,” Judy explained. “Chief is going to give him a shot at earning his badge back.”

“Hmm,” Jack said, his eyebrows jumping in surprise a little. “Shame.”

“Shame?” Judy balked. “You argued to get him back on the force!”

“Don’t get me wrong, he’s a capable police officer and I’m glad he’ll be back, but he’s wasted as a foot soldier. I was hoping I could get him to fill in an open spot in the ZBI.”

“After all of this, you want him on your team?”

“No, not my team. I don’t have a team anymore,” Jack said, and stared out at the water again, rolling the cup of coffee in his paw pensively.

“You quit?” Judy asked with wide eyes. Jack smiled.

“Part of the deal I made with the director. Skye as well. Unsurprisingly, he was not too happy about being taken for a ride like that. Officially we’ll be resigning next month after securing a safe future for ZBI leadership as an early retirement. But really, I’m just tying up all loose ends before leaving and never coming back.”

Judy watched as Jack took another sip from his cup. After everything she told him, a part of her was still angry with him. He’d risked Nick’s life as well as the lives of many more. He deserved no less than losing his job, perhaps jail time as well, but watching the reality sink in on his face still made part of her wish better for him.

“I never thanked you, Savage,” Judy realized. “For saving my life, I mean.”

“Ehh,” Jack shrugged. “I saved your life, but I also ruined it, so I’d say you don’t owe me anything.”

“What are you going to do now?” she asked him, not sure why she cared what he did with his life after this whole mess.

“You know . . . I have no idea. I have no plan at all!” he said with a laugh. He smiled warmly, as if he had just returned home from a long time away. Judy guessed that whatever he did do, he would try to enjoy it for a change. Jack got to his feet and held up his coffee, downing the last of it and crumpling the cup in his paw.

“Remember, Hopps, this conversation never happened.”

With that, he turned on his heel and tossed the crushed paper cup in a nearby trash can. He had his paws in his pockets and his head held low.

“Jack,” Judy called out. He stopped and turned, observing her patiently and, for the first time, genuinely kind. “One more question. Why did you tell me all of this? This was way more than tying up loose ends, with the recording and all. Why tell me everything?”

Jack looked out over the park again at all the various wayward mammals going about their day. A family of giraffes was walking in the park with their eldest son pointing towards a nearby café that had the milkshakes he liked. A college student was studying for her incoming exams on a table by the water. A cheetah was in his workout clothes going for a jog around the pond on the paved pathway.

“A lot of mammals owe you and Wilde their lives, Judy,” he said after a moment. “You both gave up the best parts of your lives to keep theirs safe. If there is anything I can do to make things right, then you deserve at least that much.”

Jack let her be, keeping his paws in his pockets and walking along the park pathway until he disappeared along the underbrush. Judy sat there with all of his confessions rolling around in her brain and the broken round rolling around in her fingers. There was so much more she wanted to say to Jack Savage, but none of her accusations nor expressions of gratitude could really satisfy her.

Her mind turned to Nick, who was at that moment a free mammal and missing again. She did not need to ask Jack where Nick was anymore. Now that she knew how much the case tore him up, she had a pretty good idea of where he would be waiting for her next. She looked down at the round one more time, got to her feet, and tossed it into the water.


	20. Keep At It

Judy’s feet kicked up a little dirt as she made her way along the pathway. The sun was out in force but the late autumn air left her exposed fur feeling chilled. Thankful she brought her coat from the precinct. She finally made her way to the old warehouses along the docks, without a single mammal in sight. In front of her was a familiar bridge that crossed a small creek that dried up long ago. It was here that she won Nick back during her first case, and now she would give him the chance to do the same.

 

She heard voices in the tunnel under the bridge, but they were not what she was expecting. She quietly creeped down the pathway and peeked her head around the corner, looking down the length of the tunnel. The first fox she saw was not the one she was expecting.

 

 _Finnick?_ she wondered. He was sitting on the ground leaning his back against the stone wall that lined the tunnel, staring at the other fox across from him. Nick was on a small box, leaning up against the stone wall as well with his phone in his paws and two crutches on the ground beside him. His leg was completely covered from his hip to his ankle in a bright white cast. His ear was covered in bandages as well that likely hid stitches.

 

“You've been working with Nick for long enough to know that he does not do 'sloppy',” Judy heard her own voice say. Her ears perked up and she focused in on Nick’s phone. She heard Wolford’s voice next.

 

“You've got hunches, Hopps. We've gotten lucky with them so far, but that's all they were. There are seven pieces of evidence showing Wilde has betrayed us: six of them were pulled from Fangmeyer's back, and one of them was lodged in your kevlar,” she heard come from Nick’s phone. Her eyes widened as she realized what they were listening to. This conversation took place in her hospital room after her fall from the train. Jack bugged her phone, so he must have recorded this conversation and sent it to Nick.

 

 _This wasn’t even a phone call!_ she thought. Then she remembered having her mother call her right before this conversation took place. She had placed her mother on hold, so her phone was on and resting just beside her while she and Wolford argued with one another.

 

"Fangmeyer believed in Nick" Judy’s voice continued.

 

“Then go ask her for help! She’s right down the hall!”

 

“Maxwell!” Clawhauser chimed in.

 

“What are you trying to say, Wolford?,” Judy’s voice asked. She looked up and noticed the mournful expression on Nick’s face as he listened to the conversation. He gazed sadly at the ground and gripped his phone a little tighter. If she had to guess, Nick had heard this conversation once already. Finnick patiently listened along, his arms folded across his chest.

 

“I'm saying that I won't help you hurt yourself any longer! I'm done!”

 

“No one is keeping you here, Maxwell.”

 

“But you're still going after him, aren't you?" Wolford grumbled.

 

“Yes,” she answered immediately. "I made the mistake of doubting him once, and I will never do it again. I know you don't understand it, and you probably never will, but I will stake everything I know and love on him: my career, my home, even my life."

 

“Why?” Wolford asked softly.

 

"Because I know Nicholas Wilde better than anyone on earth ever could. And if I have to choose between playing it safe and believing in Nick, I will always go with Nick."

 

Nick had enough and hit the stop button on his phone. He did not look up to see his friend’s reaction, only continued to stare at the ground without looking at anything really. His mind was elsewhere.

 

Judy chose this moment to make her presence known and stepped out from the edge of the bridge. Finnick’s ear twitched and he looked up at her with mild shock. His eyes darted between her and Nick for a moment, but Nick did not even acknowledge her yet. Finnick rose and nodded towards Judy knowingly. He placed a paw on Nick’s cast and gently knocked on it twice.

 

“I’ll be in the van,” his dark voice said calmly and he turned to leave. Judy approached Nick, observing the thoughtful gaze on his face. He stared down at his phone and fiddled with it between his fingers for a moment. Finally, after a long moment of silence between them, he hit the delete button and wiped the audio file from his phone.

 

“I assume old stripes got to you too,” Nick said softly.

 

“Too?” she asked back. He nodded and held up his phone slightly.

 

“Got a phone call from Mom a few minutes ago. Said she had the striped bunny stop by for another visit, and he told her everything. Though I highly doubt he told her _e_ _verything_. She’s still mad I didn’t tell her, but she is sorry and wants to talk things over.”

 

Judy remembered watching Jack walk away from the park bench with purpose in his step. He had somewhere else to be, and more mess to clean up. He must have gone straight to Mrs. Wilde’s house to straighten things out with her.

 

“Good,” Judy said softly. “I’m glad things are better between you two.”

 

“Did you hear that? She said _she_ was sorry. This would all be a lot easier if everyone else acted like Wolford from the start.”

 

“Maxwell was wrong about you, Nick. He only did what he thought was best for me.”

 

“Can’t say I blame old Howler,” Nick said with a shrug. “I would have said the same.”

 

“He joined my team because he believes in you, Nick. They all do,” Judy said firmly.

 

“If they did before, they won’t now. Besides, they shouldn’t have believed in me in the first place,” Nick said darkly. He still refused to look up at her as he spoke. “They were supposed to treat a fox like a fox.”

 

“Is it really that hard to grasp?” she asked him, “that I’m not the only friend you have on the force?”

 

“Had,” Nick corrected her. “After all of this . . .”

 

“Don’t give me that self-pity nonsense right now, Slick,” Judy said harshly. “Maxwell is willing to give you another chance. So is the Chief. He says that if you’re willing to put in the work, you can earn your badge back.” Nick’s eyebrows went up a little for a moment, upon hearing he had not lost his job completely. But he immediately went back to his cold scowl.

 

“And what? Pretend like none of this ever happened? This isn’t something I can just say ‘woops, sorry!’ and go back to having donuts in the lobby with Benji like always. How could I ever make things right after everything?” he said with his paws splayed open.

 

“You can start by looking at me, Nick!” she spat. He hesitated at first, recoiling away from the hurt in her voice like it stung his face. After a moment, he took a breath and looked at her dead in the eye. That familiar green color was both terrified and firm. He was trying his best to hold his ground, but his usual front was failing him completely. Judy’s paws curled up into tight fists.

 

“You should have told me,” she said coldly. “We’ve tackled tough cases and we always got our guy. We’ve taken down worse than Victor Pumar before, and we’ve never been beaten once. We did all of that because we did it _together_ _._ We are a team, Nick. But instead of treating me like your partner, you vanished without a word.”

 

Her words were cutting deep, she could tell. Nick’s jaw clamped shut and his paws curled in as she spoke. His eyes, however, did not waver at all. He kept his gaze focused right on her, quietly waiting for her to finish.

 

“You put yourself at unnecessary risk just to keep my name clean. What if something had happened to you? Would it really be worth your life?”

 

“Yes,” he answered softly.

 

“Nick!” she gasped. “I can’t believe you right now. What was going through your mind?”

 

“You would have done it,” he murmured.

 

“Done what?”

 

“You would have given it all up! If they asked, you would have tossed your badge and spent the rest of your life in prison if it meant saving at least one stranger’s life. Years of hard work, of proving yourself, and all your future holds? All of it gone!” Judy could tell he wasn’t shouting because he was angry, but rather because he was scared.

 

“I had a choice to make,” Nick explained. “Either I go down in flames or we both do, and what kind of choice is that? You’ve got a massive family who loves you, and you’re an inspiration to smaller mammals everywhere. You are the best officer on the force, with years of potential in front of you. You’ll be Chief someday, Carrots! Me? I had you, so I did what I could to keep you out of this plan, if you could even call that cluster-rut a plan.”

 

Something about the way Nick used the word ‘choice’ struck her as odd. “Skye . . . that’s what she did to get you to join in, wasn’t it? She threatened to come to me, knowing I’d say yes and that it would force you to join in too,” Judy realized. Nick could only frown and nod at her.

 

“She was a hustler once, just like me. I can’t be too surprised,” Nick said and looked back at the ground thoughtfully. “It was the best deal I would ever see. One fox’s freedom for your safety and thousands of innocent lives? Fair trade. . . but you weren’t kept safe.”

 

“I’m a police officer, Nick. It’s a dangerous line of work,” Judy argued.

 

“You were never supposed to risk your life or your badge like that. The chase in midtown, the Dravec, the train . . . I could sit here and tell you all about my good intentions, how the plan backfired, and how that sack of scat Savage failed to keep you safe, but that’s all beside the point, isn’t it? My decision put you in danger. I almost . . . I almost killed you, Carrots,” Nick said. His paws curled into a fist again, and his snout shriveled as his face contorted in pain at the memory.

 

Judy quietly watched as Nick fought to keep his face straight. His eyes squinted for a moment, then relaxed. He breathed in evenly, but his breath out was shaky. His tail was as still as the dead behind him.

 

“Judy,” he said and looked back up at her again. “If getting on my hands and knees and apologizing would make any difference, I would. If strapping on some kevlar and giving you a free shot would make you feel any better, I would do it. I could spend the rest of my life trying to fix what I broke, but I never could. There is no world where what I did is okay. I can’t fix this,” he said with a shake of his head.

 

Judy considered his words closely. She stood there, gazing at him. She was not sorry for him, despite the sad look on his face. He was right in a lot of ways. It would be impossible for things to go back to the way they were completely, but despite his actions and everything he risked, he did so to make the world a better place. Bogo’s words were echoing in her brain as she looked back at him. If he was unwilling to risk having her to save lives, then he didn’t deserve her in the first place. She looked at him with a firm glare. She wasn’t angry when she spoke, she was hopeful.

 

“Try.”

 

Nick’s eyes went a little wider and his mouth fell open. He looked square at Judy in disbelief, his paws relaxing their grip and his eyes finally beginning to moisten. He stood, wavering for a moment on his good leg and hobbling towards her, abandoning his crutches. He stood before her, the same look of disbelief plastered on his face, and she stared right back at him, hoping above all else that he would make something work.

 

As slow as sunrise, he knelt down on his good leg, wobbling again as he shifted his cast around. His paws found the ground and supported his upper body as he knelt down and bent his head down low. She saw his ears fold back over his head and his tail swoop down over his broken leg. She was surprised, knowing that he did not think this would work.

 

“I was afraid,” he began, “of what you would have given for this op. But it was not my place to make that decision for you. If we took on Pumar together, if we both got busted and lost our jobs, if we both got charged, we would have found a way through it like we always have. We would be okay because we would have done it _together_. But all because I was a little scaredy-kit, and didn’t trust you to make your own calls, you were put in danger and Fangmeyer was hurt.”

 

He gripped the dirt beneath his paws and shook his head, as if telling the dissenting voices in his head to keep back and let him finish.

 

“I won’t blame you if you walk away, Carrots. I know it’s not enough . . . but I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Judy. You deserved so much better.”

 

Judy stepped forward and gently cradled his head into her chest. She wrapped her arms around the fur on his cheeks and ran her paws over his ears. She felt something warm and wet hit the tops of her feet. He leaned his head forward, pressing in deeper into her. His breath was shaky, and he brought up one arm to hold onto the back of her shirt, gripping it in his fingers tightly.

 

“Skye . . . we kissed and we played lovers, but we didn’t . . . we never . . .” he choked.

 

“I know,” she said soothingly, continuing to run her paws over the fur on his head. He gripped her shirt tighter and pulled her closer. She enjoyed the feel of his coarse fur along her fingers, and the way he held on to her tightly. Judy guessed that perhaps two mammals had ever seen Nick like this.

 

“Judy . . .” his voice broke. He was done trying to maintain his tough guy facade. He let her see plainly and openly that she was the one mammal that got to him. She shushed him softly and continued running her paws over his head. It was all she could do to keep from breaking herself.

 

She let him breathe a few more times, gently calming him. “Don’t worry, Slick. I left the carrot pen at home.”

His broken laugh was music to her ears. It was weak at first, but it built into a familiar chuckle with shaky breaths in between. She felt a smile creep onto his cheeks through her paws, and she laid her head down on top of his, trying to usher it out further. “There we go, deep breaths,” she urged him with a smile on her face.

 

“How do you bunnies do this all the time?” he said after a half-laugh/half-sob. “It’s exhausting.”

 

“Years of practice and conditioning,” she joked. “And lot’s of coffee in between.”

 

Nick relaxed his grip on her shirt and sat up on his knee, keeping his other leg propped up behind him. He looked at her with a warm smile on his face, wiping his eyes with the back of his paws. She smiled back up at him, thankful to have her fox safe again. After almost losing him in more ways than one, it was a victory to see his face again at all. He stood up, wobbling a bit to one side so Judy caught him at his side and helped him grab his crutches.

 

“How long will you need these?” she said as she handed him the metal stilts.

 

“12 weeks, doc says,” Nick responded with a sniffle. “I’ll need to head back sooner though to get the stitches in my ear removed. Hopefully the doc kept me pretty . . . hold on, what time is it?” he asked, his brow furrowing suddenly.

 

“Hmm?” Judy said and pulled out her phone. “Ten after four.”

 

“Perfect! Follow me,” he said with a slight smile on his face. His eyes were dry now and his voice less shaky. He hopped on one leg and swung his whole body in strides up the hill along the bridge. Judy was impressed he could move so quickly, she actually had to maintain a light jog to keep up.

 

“Where are we going?” she wondered.

 

“First, to Finnick’s van. After that, you’ll just have to wait and see.”

 

“Please don’t start keeping secrets from me right now, Slick,” Judy groaned.

 

“I promise, fluff. From now on, no secrets! Only pleasant surprises.”

 

“No secrets?” she said skeptically.

 

“Absolutely none.”

 

“Okay then. Were you serious when you said you’d give me a free shot?”

 

 

* * *

 

 

Finnick was gracious enough to drive them back into town while Nick directed him where to go. As they drove, Judy explained all about the Chief’s offer to give Nick another chance on the force. He took it all in with a thoughtful look on his face, contemplating his options. For a moment, Judy wondered if he would refuse the offer. After all, Nick did not realize how much the ZPD trusted him until after he left. It brought a new weight and pressure onto proving himself as a capable officer to more than just Judy.

 

“Up here,” he said and pointed to a parking spot beside an office building down the road. Finnick parked his van and undid the back doors for Nick, sarcastically offering him the ramp like he was cargo.

 

Judy quietly followed Nick as he led them both down the street a little further along a few well-kept garden hedges. He continued to hobble on his crutches in front of her, occasionally glancing behind him to see that she was still following.

 

“Just up this way,” Nick said, pointing at the corner of the next block.

 

“You going to tell me where you brought me yet, Slick?” Judy said with her hands on her hips.

 

“To the specialist’s office,” he explained. “Same guy who worked on my leg was helping Skye.”

 

“Why are you taking me there?”  

 

“You’ll see,” he said and shot back a familiar smug grin. It was the first one she had seen since the day he vanished, and it felt as warm and familiar as her childhood bed.

 

“You and Skye go back a ways?”

 

“Waaay back,” he said. “Remember when I told you about after the whole ranger-scout muzzle fiasco that I fell in with a bad crowd?”

 

“Yeah,” Judy remembered.

 

“Well, Skye was part of that bad crowd. She was our resident pickpocket before her dad sent her to live in Zoo York. She hated my guts when we first met, so you’d like her. I didn’t realize this until after she moved away, but she had it rough as a kit. Real rough. She never hurt anyone, but she never really got straight until she met stripes.”

 

Nick finally stopped at the corner of the street where the hedges took a sharp turn around the bend in the road. He leaned on one crutch as he peered around the corner towards the medical building that listed a private practice specializing in canines and larger predators. Judy saw him smile.

 

“Ahh, like clockwork,” he said quietly. He looked back at her and ushered her closer. Judy snuck beside him and peered around the corner, getting a closer look at the building across the street.

 

Standing out front near the lobby doors was Jack Savage, who leaned up against his car with his foot impatiently thumping against the ground. He snuck a look at his watch, glancing up at the doors to the lobby, then back down at his watch.

 

“The ZBI have been keeping a close watch on Skye while Savage has been cleaning up loose ends. She had her final appointment with the doc today so she should be all done,” Nick explained softly, making sure to speak quietly so that Jack could not hear them. He laughed softly as Jack continued to anxiously wait.

 

A moment later, the lobby entrance opened and a vixen with snowy-white fur hobbled through the automatic doors. Her leg was injured as well, but she was strapped into a boot instead of a full cast like Nick. Her midsection looked bandaged as well underneath her torn t-shirt. Jack’s ears were immediately tall and stiff, his foot finally stopping it’s impatient thump. Judy kept her own ears tall as well, hoping to hear what she would say.

 

“Jack,” Skye say softly, her eyes widening upon realizing it was him.

 

“Hey, Skye,” Jack breathed with a warm and content smile growing on his face. Skye dashed forward, dropping her crutches and hobbling quickly down the parking lot.

 

“Jack!” she cried out.

 

“Easy!” Jack said and darted forward, quickly making his way to her. “You’re gonna rip your stitches!”

 

“Jack!” she called out again, blinking back tears. He guided her down so she was now sitting on the pavement with her leg propped forward. Jack held onto her carefully, making sure she was not hurt by gently checking for any blood seeping through any of her stitches.

  
“Crazy fox,” he scolded her, taking her cheeks in his paws. “You feel any pain in your abdomen? Can you flex your arms inward for me?”

 

“Jack,” she practically whispered and leaned her head forward. He wrapped his arms around her neck and practically buried himself in her fur. She grasped onto his frame with both arms and pulling him off of his feet. Her eyes were squeezed tightly shut as she took in the feel of his form and the smell of his fur.

 

“Mmm,” Nick murmured with a smile as he watched them embrace. “Skye would lay awake in bed at night with this sad look on her face. We would spend hours into the night quietly talking about our bunnies, just trying to pass the time before we could get back to them. Any time I felt like I missed you, I reminded myself that she was really hurting too, not having Jack there.”

 

Jack brought Skye’s face down towards him, kissing her sweetly and holding the fur on her cheek with one paw. She eagerly kissed him back, her eyes closing and holding back happy little laughs that bubbled up from her chest.

  
“We were apart for a few days. They were apart for _months_ ,” Nick said softly.

 

Judy gazed up at Nick, who watched with a passive satisfaction as the two former ZBI agents embraced. He sighed, happy to know that at least one of them got their rabbit back. Try as he might to hide it, Nick was really a sap underneath it all. He dragged her all the way across town just to watch them be happy.

 

She reached out and folded her paw into his palm, lacing her fingers with his. He looked down in surprise at her as she smiled up at him, giving his warm paw a light squeeze. He turned away from the street corner to face her more directly, looking suddenly nervous.

 

“I want my partner back, Nick. You think you can take Bogo up on his offer?” She asked him. Nick nodded slowly.

 

“I know it’s going to take time for me to fix this, Judy,” he confessed softly. “But to be honest, I’d scrub toilets at the precinct for the next twenty years if it got me closer to seeing you during the day.”

 

“Nick,” she said sweetly, stepping closer to him. “We can make this right, but we’ll do it together, okay?”

 

“Okay,” he said weakly, bowing his head down towards her.

 

“Baby steps,” she whispered and gave him a soft kiss. It was not the full force embrace the other two were sharing, rather it was as brief and as soft as a shared breath. She was there just long enough to feel the warmth of his lips against hers, pulling away and gazing up at him.

 

“How am I doing so far?” he asked her, holding on to her paw with both hands.

 

“Keep at it, Slick,” she said with a wicked smile. “You’re in the right direction.”

  
  
  
  
  
  


 

 

 

 

**Epilogue**

  


Despite everything Nick had said to reassure her, her foot still tapped nervously. Her mind was reeling with all the little details she could be overlooking, and she was worried about the consequences if everything did not go well. If he asked about it, she’d tell him the hot sidewalk was bothering her foot. He finally caught up to her at the stoop and leaned on one of his crutches, giving her a skeptical look.

 

“It will always confuse me how you can approach a hostage situation with a cool head, but _this_ is what makes you nervous,” he said with a shake of his head.

 

“I just want it to go well! Sue me,” she said and fiddled around with her shirt, making sure it wasn’t too wrinkled.

 

“Fluff, trust me, it’ll be fine. I talked with her when I was here yesterday, she’s ecstatic to meet you.” Nick gave her his usual relaxed smile and began ascending the stoop, being extra careful not to hit his cast against the stone steps.

 

“Are you sure you don’t want help with that?” Judy offered, knowing full well it was a fruitless effort.

 

“Let this broken fox keep some dignity, Carrots. Besides, I’ll be free of this thing in a few days and I need the practice.”

 

“What is undignified with letting your girlfriend help you out? Besides, wouldn’t your mom want to see that I can help you when you’re hurt?” she asked, and bit the back of her finger anxiously.

 

“Carrots, come on. If I can show my face in the precinct, you can have lunch with Vivienne.” He placed a comforting paw on her shoulder and planted a quick kiss on her head between her ears. She finally sighed and shook the tension out of her shoulders, giving him a knowing nod.

 

“Ready when you are, Slick.”

 

Nick smiled and hit the doorbell, which range with three lovely notes before Judy heard a soft female’s voice call out through the door.

 

“Just a moment!” she called out, opening the door a second later and smiling at them.

 

Vivienne Wilde had a gentle smile and a pale blue dress, making the orange in her fur seem brighter. Her fur had a few traces of white running through her face, but she carried herself with a air of youthfulness despite her age. She looked over at her son and gave him an oddly familiar smirk.

 

“She’s gorgeous, Nicky,” she said softly. Judy immediately blushed and looked over towards her partner.

 

“Was there ever any doubt?” he smirked back, more than a little proud. “Mom, this is officer Judy Hopps. Judy? Vivienne Wilde.”

 

“Please to meet you Mrs. Wilde!” Judy said and held out her paw. The old fox gently shook it and smiled at her.

 

“It’s been a long time coming, Officer Hopps. And please, call me Vivienne.”

 

“Only if you call me Judy,” she replied with a smile.

 

“Deal. Come on in! I’ve got pasta on the stove and blueberry muffins in the oven,” Vivienne said and ushered them inside.

 

“Hahh,” Nick moaned as he hobbled inside. His nose bounced joyfully as he caught the smell of his mother’s cooking. “I confess it openly, Carrots. The broken leg was just an elaborate ploy to get more blueberry muffins.”

 

“Huh,” Judy said as she followed them inside. “Don’t you think asking politely would have been easier? I would have made you some.”

 

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure you could make a mean muffin, but I’d sell my soul for these.” Nick eagerly swing his body through the living room and headed towards the kitchen. His mother grabbed a hold of his shirt on his shoulder and stopped him abruptly.

 

“No no, you’re going to sit right there and wait. I believe you have more studying for your police exam anyway.”

 

“You’re denying me muffins to make me study? I know I’m in my thirties but this has got to be some form of child abuse.”

 

“You heard your mother,” Judy said and gave him a light shove to the nearest armchair. His books were still left over from the last time he had studied there, resting on a small table under the lamp. “And if you can’t remember the age statute for child-abuse charges, then I’d say you need the extra study time.”

 

“18,” he grumbled and sat down with an annoyed sigh.

 

“Judy, would you mind helping me set the table?” Nick’s Mother asked politely. “Normally I would never ask a guest to help, but Grumpy McBrokenleg over there won’t be much use.”

 

“Hey, that’s _Mister_ Grumpy McBrokenleg, ma’am,” Nick said gaudily.

 

“Well get reading,” Judy demanded. “I want to make that _Officer_ McHealthyleg by the end of this summer.”

 

“Oh, I like you,” Vivienne said in a hushed tone as Judy joined her in the kitchen. She smiled back at the older vixen and began helping her set up for lunch.

 

Mrs. Wilde’s house was very charming. The wallpaper was a familiar green pattern that reminded her of Nick’s favorite shirt. It dawned on her quickly that it must be the reason why he loved that particular garment so much. The kitchen was built for taller mammals, so Judy used a small stool by the door to help her fetch placemats and silverware.

 

“He was a pawful growing up too,” Vivienne said quietly. “Sometimes more so than others, but he had heart, even if he hid it from everyone.”

 

“Mmm,” Judy agreed. “Don’t let his lazy front fool you. He’s been working hard every day.”

 

“Oh I know,” Vivienne said, stirring the pasta with a wooden spoon. “Though if I keep feeding his sweet-tooth, he’ll need to work even harder to burn off the flab after the cast comes off . . .”

 

Vivienne stopped stirring and gazed down at the stovetop thoughtfully. Judy caught her change in demeanor and looked over at the elder fox with a concerned look on her face. Vivienne smiled meekly, shaking her head.

 

“I never thought I’d be so grateful it was just a broken leg,” Vivienne said softly.

 

“Me too,” Judy said. She remembered just how horrifying it was to see Nick in the jaws of a savage predator, yelping in pain. She was thankful his mother did not see that.

 

“Judy,” Vivienne began, placing her spoon down and turning to her. She had a somber look on her face, and had trouble looking Judy straight in the eye.  “I know I don’t know everything about what happened. When he left . . . I was so afraid that I had lost him again. But you never lost faith in him, even when his own mother had. I can never thank you enough for bringing Nicholas back to me.”

 

Judy smiled and placed a gentle paw on her forearm. “He brought his life around once. He can do it again, I’m sure of it.”

 

Vivienne smiled at her, placing a warm paw over Judy’s and nodding gratefully. She quietly got back to her cooking and Judy began placing placemats on the table. Through the kitchen door, Judy could see Nick on his father’s armchair, thoughtfully flipping through a copy of ‘Felonies or Misdemeanors?’ that was already worn down from the first time he studied for the officer’s exam. She smiled at his fervor and resolve, knowing he’d be working very hard for a long time even after the exam.

 

On his leg was a white cast that itched like crazy. It covered the whole of his limb from his hip all the way down to his heel. Over the months, it collected a few dings and spots of dirt, but what really stuck out were the signatures all over it. A few friends had written him messages and doodled jokes in some areas. Others were reserved for family, like his mother’s love that rested on his kneecap. But above that, right along his thigh where he could always see it, was a message from a special group of coworkers, followed by their names.

 

_See you on the beat, Foxy_

 

_Francine,_

 

_Benjamin,_

 

_Kanya,_

 

_Maxwell,_

 

_Carrots_

 

 

 

 

 

**END**

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Continue to the next chapter for Author's commentary.


	21. Author's Commentary

Whew! Love it or hate it, the story is done. If you’ve made it this far, thank you so much for reading. The following will just be a collection of Author’s commentary and a place to answer a few fan questions. Be warned, spoilers below. I’m going to address the ending and everything, so if you have not read the story in it’s entirety, you should do that first. If you’ve read it, or don’t care about spoilers, read on! First off, the fun stuff.

 

**Easter Eggs**

There were a few Easter Eggs in this story pulling from different influences of mine, some more obvious than others. One that a few people got was the name of Jack’s teammate Conny Brocktree. ‘Conny’ is short for Constance, who was a badger in Brian Jacque’s amazing book ‘Redwall’, a beloved story of my youth. Brocktree is the name of a separate badger from the same series in a book called ‘Salamandastron’.

Another one that someone pointed out was the lab rat that Judy works with to clear evidence. I named him Remi, as a nod to another Disney film ‘Ratatouille’. I can totally hear his voice when he’s grumbling about all the work Judy’s throwing at him.

Two eggs that were a bit more subtle were the names of Fangmeyer’s sons. She’s a tiger-mom (zing) who cares about her boys more than anything. Her boys are named Richard and Parker, a nod to the tiger named Richard Parker that spends weeks stranded on a lifeboat with an Indian child in Yann Martel’s wonderful book ‘The Life of Pi.’ I pulled a lot of inspiration for the themes in this story from that work. Both stories, Martel’s work and my own, are about faith. Pi’s faith in god is a bit like Judy’s faith in Nick, and both of their faith’s get challenged. I knew from the get-go that this theme would cause some readers not to enjoy the fic, but I wanted to push myself with this story, so I stand by my decision. More on that later.

Another subtle easter egg I threw in there was the name of one of the Dravec terrorists. Pumar refers to the lion that captures Judy as ‘Jad-Bal-Ja’, which is the name of Tarzan’s lion-companion in Edgar Rice Burrough’s novel ‘Tarzan The Untamed’.

Lastly, perhaps the silliest one was in chapter 9 when Judy is speaking with a deer named John and his son Nathan. These names were both puns on the tractor company ‘John Deere’, who’s slogan is “Nothing runs like a Deere”, which is why I added in that line of dialogue “Nathan runs like a Deere”. It was silly, but I couldn’t resist.

And for those who don’t know, the band ‘Sweet’ that Nick references is real, and you can look up their hit song Fox on the Run, which is also real.

 

**Who Guessed It?**

So I asked about halfway through the story for theories on what will happen in the end of the story, and this was my favorite part of the comments on each site. Some people had awesome theories that each would have made really cool stories! What a creative group you all are!

I mentioned that I would give the guesses that were the closest a shoutout here at the end. Gistech and Faceless Void got some things right, so both are honorable mentions for sure. But the one who got it the most right was Cimar/Wildehopps, the king of fluff himself. He’s an author as well and has some amazing stories that you should totally check out. My favorite is ‘The Masked Fox’. He’s also got a collaborative project going on right now called ‘What If’, pulling authors from all over the fandom to add chapters to, it’s awesome! (I’m slated to write one that’s due in November, so look out for that!). Cimar got SO much right, down to the pistol standoff where Pumar made Nick try and shoot Judy. However, no one expected Savage.

 

**The Origins of the Story**

I’ll be honest. I was listening to a playlist of 70s and 80s glam rock hits and Fox on the Run came on. I had finished my other fic Contraband earlier, and the thought just kind of dawned on me that it would be a cool name for a fic. Not exactly divine inspiration, but it got me thinking. I thought about what a fic called “Fox on the Run” would be about, and I figured it would be Nick running away from Judy in some way. I considered an AU where Nick was a criminal and Judy was tasked to catch him, but that has been done plenty already. The other idea I had was where Nick and Judy are already friends post-movie and then she needs to catch him.

Contraband, my other story, was much more light-hearted and fun, capturing the spirit of the film much more. While I could have done that with this fic, I wanted a challenge. I dabbled in some more intense stories where the stakes were high and the ending was not predictable, and I wanted to try to pull that off. I came up with the general idea for the story where Nick is on the run from the ZBI in cahoots with a terrorist and Judy has to catch him first. As the story progresses, we find it harder and harder to justify what Nick does and eventually we really doubt whether he’s playing a game or actually evil. I pitched the idea to some other writers and members of the fandom, and there was plenty of excitement about it, but there was also skepticism as well. We all agreed this was a bold idea, and to give a story like this a happy ending would take some real writing skill.

Another thing I wanted to challenge myself to do was write Jack. He's a character that makes a good badguy, but I did not want to make him irredeemable. With him, I wanted to make a sort-of "Professor Snape who gets the girl", being a jerk the whole way through but secretly doing everything out of love. Not everyone likes Snape, so not everyone will like Jack, so I take the criticism as fair. 

In the end, whether or not I pulled it off is up to the reader, and yeah, it did not work for everyone. I had comments telling me this story should be the sequel to the movie, and others telling me it was (in nice terms) contrived drivel. I think it was an excellent ride and learning experience for me as the writer, and I am glad to see others enjoyed it as well.

Perhaps my biggest success here was starting discussion. Chapter 19, which explains what really happened, has 157 comments as of writing this now! And I’ve read every one of them. There are some who feel Nick crossed so many lines that there is no justification for his actions. There are others defending him saying he did what he had to or that there wasn’t much choice given the circumstances. I don’t feel like there is a right or a wrong side here. You could easily argue either side, and the debates that followed have been wonderful to witness. My intention with this story was not to offend, but rather to challenge, and I’m glad to see so much discussion flowing from this story.

 

**Questions and Answers:**

**Cimar-WildeHopps asks: “How long did it take you to plan this story out with how many details you had to keep track of?”**

Great question. The basic outline of the story that hit the major plot points took a few weeks, but keeping track of each detail down to Jack’s reaction to hearing Judy saw Skye after the bike chase? That took a month at least. The only reason I was able to pull this off was because I had a team of storytellers with me planning everything out. Without this team, this story would not have happened.

 

**Owningsuperset7 asks: “Did you ever even contemplate about making Nick a genuine villain in the story? Like, did you actually think about him actually being a bad guy wholeheartedly?”**

When designing the story, I did consider that early on. If I’m testing Judy’s faith in Nick, would it be possible to leave her faith unrewarded? The reason I quickly decided not to was because I honestly cannot see Nick being evil without it being way out of character, say for perhaps a world where Judy is killed and the pain drives him into dark vengeance, which was not the story I wanted to tell.

I did, however, consider what an evil Nick would do. What actions would he take that would cause real doubt amongst Judy’s companions? Lots of ideas came up, most of which got tossed. The challenge became how do I create this doubt while keeping Nick in character? Wasn’t easy, and not everyone believes I pulled it off, which is fair. I’ll take this learning experience into my next story for sure.

 

**N3M0-N0B0DY asks: “ Did you anticipate the overall reaction to the story that you received? Or were you surprised by how your readers reacted?”**

Some parts I saw coming, others surprised me like crazy. I definitely knew not everyone would enjoy this story. Nick is a beloved character, and not everyone would enjoy seeing him betray his friends and family like this. That was bound to cause some discontent. But plenty of others loved it, and I’m pleased that was the case.

What I did not expect was just how big it got! 20k views on FF, 13k hits on AO3, and over 100 watchers on DA? That is way more than I was expecting, and it means the world that so many people read and enjoyed it!

 

**Wolf-of-Avalon asks: “What sparked the idea for the story line? Was it always your intention to let Nick live?”**

As for the story line, I mentioned already where it came from earlier. But as for letting Nick live, I did consider having him sacrificing himself to save the city/Judy as a last ditch redemption, but that simply was not the story I wanted to tell. I wanted a challenge, and ending it happily without it being hamfisted would be as difficult a challenge as I will ever see. Jury’s out on whether it worked, but I did my best.

 

**Gistech, Be-Wilder, and Havenoluck all ask: “So what is next?”**

Plenty have asked me if I have any plans for a sequel. As far as a direct sequel goes, I do not intend to carry this story any further. It might be interesting to see a story about Nick’s redemption, to see what he does to earn the love and trust back from everyone, but for me this story is as wrapped as I want it to be.

In the near future, my next project will be a 3 chapter short story on Cimar/Wildehopps’s newest collaboration project. I’ll be writing a short story about Nick and Judy as Ski Patrol officers where Nick is the new guy and Judy is his teacher. Should be fun!

Long term? It’s hard to say for sure. I’m starting a new job in a few weeks, so I’ll spend some time focusing on that, and perhaps get back to reading fanfiction instead. But, those who know me know that writing is my creative outlet when I work in a world of numbers and math. Eventually, I’ll feel that itch again. When I do, here’s an idea I liked:

A Skye and Savage prequel to Fox on the Run. I actually love these characters, and I’d like to see more of them, especially to learn how they met and fell for each other. If I did this story, I’d probably make it a bit more light-hearted and fun than the tense and darker story that Fox on the Run turned into. Since it would be a prequel, it would not be so much a mystery as a crime adventure with a healthy dose of romance. This could be fun.

 

 

**Final Words**

There are a few people specifically that I would like to thank for helping this story come to life.

First off, I worked with two amazing artists for this story. KungFuFreak09 did some amazing work with the original cover art for this story. I just love the way she does Nick. She also pushed herself beyond her comfort zone for doing Victor Pumar in chapter 17, and it was masterful.

The other artist was IttyBittyKittyTitties, who has a wonderfully bright and crisp art style that complimented the story beautifully. He did the newer cover art, the photo of Jack Savage in Chapter 9, and the final shot of Nick in chapter 17. Such a wonderful artist to work with treating each project like an absolute pro.

My editing team was broken into two: the Blue team and the Red team. Blue team was in charge of helping me strategize and keep track of details, knowing exactly what the story was going to do long before it was written. The Red team looked at each chapter with fresh eyes and pointed out things that did not make sense or fixed syntax errors along the way. I won’t mention everyone, since a few of them prefer not to be identified, but they all deserve thanks and my undying gratitude for being on this wild ride with me.

YFWE

This guy is a talented author himself! Go find his works! “Traveling Alone” is my favorite because of the Gideon and Mrs. Wilde dialogue. His story “A Million Ways” has just started so go follow it! He recently joined up with ZNN as a pre-reader and has been a valiant addition to the red team for many months. YFWE, you were a joy to work with and I cannot thank you enough for being patient with me through this whole ordeal. You’re an excellent writer and a good guy to know. Thanks so much!

DrummerMax64:

Everyone in the fandom knows this guy. I call him ‘The Librarian’ for his endless knowledge of fanfictions. He’s even written some too! Go look up “Fluffy and Scruffy” to check it out. Max, you’re a trooper for being with me on this story from the very start. Your encouragement and guidance has helped me see this story to the end. Can’t thank you enough for your labors, you’re a good friend and a gem to the fandom.

Cimar/Wildehopps:

Cimar, or as I know him, The King of Fluff, is a very talented writer himself and has so many amazing works you should just go check out all of them. Cimar is a star in the fandom and has helped a few times on the red team helping me edit the more action oriented parts of the story. Cimar, thanks so much for your help and I can’t wait to keep working with you on the next collaboration!

 

Lastly, the rock of this story.

EEsDoNotItNow:

Eva, as I call her, was with me from the start as well. When I pitched the ideas for the original story here, she was the one who helped guide me towards the final vision. She is brilliant, a joy to bounce ideas off of, and never shied away from telling me some idea would not work. If those early conversations had never taken place, I would not have written this story. It was you who convinced me this story was worth telling and worth seeing through, so thank you thank you thank you Robosis.

 

And that’s it!

To those of you who thought this story was just a little too dark or complicated, I'm throwing up my other story 'Contraband' onto this site which will be much more your speed. Some people have told me it is a bit like a prequel to Fox on the Run. While that was not my intention, it does happen to flow nicely into this story. 

My final word of thanks is to the readers. You’re all incredible for seeing this story through with me, and I’m so grateful for your comments, be they criticism or praise. I hope, if nothing else, that you’ll remember this story. 

 

 

Cheers,

Johnsoneer


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